Sportsbook & Gambling Information

The show that set off a global poker explosion

Its online success owes a large debt to TV and we'll soon see a lot of it on UK screens

Nils Pratley
Wednesday June 8, 2005
The Guardian

For those still shocked by the idea that PartyGaming, an online poker business, could be worth $10bn, or over £5bn, when it floats this month in London, here is a possible explanation - the power of television to hype poker.

PartyGaming's operating profits - expected to be $500m (£275m) this year - are made exclusively online, but it largely built its Party Poker brand via conventional advertising on the Travel Channel in the United States. That success explains why British television is about to be hit with a wave of poker programming.

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Next week Five will start broadcasting 90-minute highlights of tournaments from the new European Poker Tour (EPT). Channel 4 in August will revive Late Night Poker, the series which first made poker intelligible on television by using under-the-table cameras to reveal the players' cards.

Two dedicated poker channels - Pokerzone and the Poker Channel - have launched on Sky during the past few months, and the established Challenge TV is now a poker-heavy format.

Party Poker's coup in the US was to sign Mike Sexton as its public face in 2001. A Las Vegas-based professional, Mr Sexton was subsequently recruited by the Travel Channel as host and expert pundit when the station acquired the broadcast rights to the newly created World Poker Tour (WPT) in 2003.

Party Poker flooded the programmes with advertisements featuring Mr Sexton. Such a cosy relationship between presenter and advertiser might have jarred with European television regulators, but it transformed Party Poker. Marketing director Vikrant Bhargava says the site's share of the online market went from 20% to 50% in a matter of months.

At the same time, the number of players mushroomed, helped by Travel Channel viewers rushing off to play online. Even now, about 75% of Party Poker's players are Americans and Mr Sexton, as the established face of poker on US television, is regarded as so important to the website that his contract runs to 2011.

Mr Sexton himself is in no doubt about the contribution of Travel Channel and the WPT to the worldwide poker explosion. "It's all because of the WPT, believe me," he said during a recent visit to London.

"When the first programme went out on the Travel Channel, it quadrupled their previous best audience. The repeats now get higher audiences than the original screenings. This is the show that launched a sport."

Non-players may struggle to see a card game as a sport, but poker's promoters see parallels with golf, where heavily sponsored events with big purses are sustained through the year by television coverage.

"The WPT got to $100m of prize money in three years," says Mr Sexton. "It took [golf's] PGA 30 years to do that."

Unlike golf, the average poker player logging on for a few hours in the evening can dream of qualifying for a major televised tournament - all the major sites run low-stake qualifiers.

"Viewers get to see people sweat it out for million-dollar decisions," says Mr Sexton. "They are all out there thinking 'that should be me playing for a million dollars'. People like to see the big bucks, and you can become a better poker player by watching it. You can't become a better soccer player by watching a soccer match."

That is why Five's coverage of the rival European tour is interesting. The prize money is not in the US league, but €650,000 (£440,000) for the winner is a step up for British terrestrial television.

The EPT is the creation of John Duthie, a television director whose credits including the BBC's Clocking Off and Silent Witness dramas. He is also an accomplished poker player - he won £1m in an event shown on Sky in 2000.

"Television and online poker have almost run side by side," says Mr Duthie. "It started with Late Night Poker, which brought poker to the attention of the British public. In the US, the single reason why Party Poker is as successful as it is that they got incredibly lucky by being in the right place at the right time. It could have happened to any of the sites.

"It was through their association with Mike Sexton that they bought up the advertising spots on the Travel Channel. If the WPT had not been successful, Party Poker would not have been so successful."

The EPT, naturally, is trying to position itself as the gateway to Europe's online poker players. It is sponsored by Pokerstars, Party Poker's arch-rival, and the sheer sums of money both sites are spending on promotions and advertising in Europe suggests the front line of the online poker war has shifted across the Atlantic.

Indeed, US broadcasting rules on the promotion of gambling appear to be tightening, just as Europe is being seen as more liberal territory. Pokerzone, for example, even broadcasts games taking place on various websites - its commentators add analysis to what could be a dry offering. More conventional fare includes news reports from the current World Series of Poker in Vegas.

The channel generates only about 10% of its revenue from viewers' text messages and other interactive services; the bulk is intended to come from conventional sponsorship and advertising - with an estimated 200 poker sites in the world, there is a permanent battle for branding.

Channel 4 is recognising the online rev olution by revamping Late Night Poker for its return. The first six series between 1998 and 2002 featured professional players. This time, with a nod towards reality TV, it will be billed as a quest to find Britain's best amateur player.

Qualification will take place on the website of the sponsor, the ubiquitous Party Poker, inevitably, and the final 42 will compete in a television studio for a prize pool of £100,000.

Viewing figures for Late Night Poker Ace will perhaps provide the clearest measure yet of the British appetite for the game. The old series averaged audiences of more than 500,000 and peaked at 1.3 million despite being shown well after midnight.

If the figures significantly beat that, expect poker to further follow the American example. In the US last month, NBC sponsored and broadcast a tournament in Sunday afternoon slots, the first time a major US network had become involved.

None of which makes PartyGaming's price tag a bargain, but does show it is not the only one betting on the cards.

Bill allows high-stakes poker games regulated

By SUSAN M. COVER
Staff Writer
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AUGUSTA -- Charities looking to cash in on the poker craze would be allowed to do so six times a year under a bill that gained House approval Tuesday.

The so-called Texas Hold 'Em bill would allow groups to hold high-stakes poker games with the permission of state police. The maximum entry fee for the games would be $100 per person. Only 100 people would be able to play at a time.

Supporters say the bill makes legal and regulates what's already going on in many Maine social clubs and charities.

"There are very strict limits on it," said Sen. Kenneth Gagnon, D-Waterville. "Most charitable organizations are using the funds for charitable work."

The bill requires 75 percent of the money raised at card games to be given to charity. An organization can apply for a license only once every two months.

The House passed the bill 120-25 Tuesday and the Senate referred it to the Appropriations Committee for review, because it adds three staff positions to the Department of Public Safety.

Baldacci spokesman Lynn Kippax said the governor had not yet decided whether to sign the bill into law, and he reiterated Baldacci's opposition to gambling.

"The governor is opposed to the expansion of gambling in Maine," he said.

If the bill makes it to his desk, Baldacci has 10 days to decide whether to sign it, veto it or let it become law without his signature.

Last year, Le Club Calumet in Augusta had to cancel a Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament after the state Department of Public Safety reminded clubs that existing state law restricts bets to $1 a hand.

Club president Harry Roy said the club is hoping the bill passes so it can resume fund raising for local schools, children's cancer funds and Special Olympics.

Those who play in card tournaments want to play the hot games, and Texas Hold 'Em is the one to play right now.

"When it's popular, they tend to play a lot more," Roy said.

A spokesman for the Elks lodge in Waterville could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Despite strong legislative support, the expansion of gambling is not universally loved among lawmakers.

Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, said she fought to pare down the original bill to restrict it to six times a year. She said she feels the $100-per-player entry fee would bring a lot of mini-gambling parlors to Maine communities.

"We're talking about an expansion of gambling people aren't paying attention to," she said. "This is in your neighborhood. This is in your town."

While a bill to allow a racino in Washington County has grabbed all the headlines, this bill has quietly made its way through the process.

Rep. Joshua Tardy, R-Newport, agreed with Gagnon that a small expansion of gambling is appropriate as long as it's properly regulated. The bill calls for the state police to hire three additional staffers to monitor gambling, funded by a $5-per-player fee at each of the games.

"It's a valuable tool for nonprofits to raise money," Tardy said.

Lt. Patrick Fleming, director of the Maine Department of Public Safety's special investigations unit, said current law that restricts bets to $1 per chance doesn't allow Texas Hold 'Em, because the game requires players to put all their money in at one time.

He said his unit has taken many calls from groups that want to hold such tournaments.