Marketing to U.S. Poker Players

by kane posted Feb 11th 2007 at 05:29AM

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People have asked me lately what their plan should be for marketing online poker to U.S. players. Well, quite frankly your plan should be to forget about them. This sounds pretty harsh but unfortunately it is the truth. I do think the U.S. market can rebound in a few years given there is legislation and regulation. But to plan any long term value on U.S. players is just silly at this point. Furthermore trying to bring on a new player to online poker will be even more difficult. Heck, I have won and lost thousands of dollars playing online poker over the last year, and even I am stuck on how to deposit and wthdrawl.

Actually I know the methods that are available, but quite honestly for me as a recreational player, it sounds like a pain. So this brings up the fundamental question of "What Now"? What you should do now is number one, diversify. Don't give up on online poker, there is still plenty of money to be made here, but by all means don't rely on it for all your income.

I hate to say it, but I would not be surprised to see ALL the rooms abandon the U.S. market in the coming months. All it is going to take is a person like Howard Lederer from FullTilt.com or Doyle Brunson from DoylesRoom.com to get arrested to bring this to the forefront. Until now we have all been able to fall back on the sports betting argument, but if an actual poker company or poker operator gets arrested, mark my words, online poker will be all over in the U.S.

I don't write this to scare people, but more so to point out the obvious. If you're not planning for something like this to happen, then you are planning to fail. Sure, let's hope this never happens, but if it does just be prepared and diversified.

I wouldn't necessarily say bringing on any U.S. player is a waste of time right now, but just realize it is a risk in terms of long term profitability. Any of these rooms could easily pull out of he U.S. market tomorrow morning. Continuing in online poker as an affiliate is still a great choice. But start looking at how you can attract players in countries that allow online gaming. I would bet 99% of the people reading this do not have sites in languages other than American. Ranking well in the SERPS is so much easier for key terms in countries other than the U.S. Now I am not saying you should all go and learn a new language, but just think about HOW you are actually going to target the foreign players in countries outside of the U.S.

Has anyone thought of using PPC with geo-targeting? This sounds like a pretty damn good idea to me. :)

In closing, like all of you I think the U.S. situation absolutely sucks. I also think we are going to see another significant arrest in the coming weeks that may trigger more rooms to pull out of the US Poker market. This isn't meant to be a gloom and doom article, just a reminder about how important it is to be looking at new ways to make money as a poker affiliate versus marketing online poker to american players.

Curious what room still accept U.S. Poker Players?