Pacific Poker US for American Players
Pacific Poker is an online poker room owned by 888 Holdings plc (LSE: 888), and one of many gambling products that can be found at 888.com. When their poker room first launched in 2002, much of their initial traffic came as a result of cross marketing exchanged with their own already well established online casino brand. Many poker players were introduced to 888 and Pacific Poker for the first time via the final table television broadcast of the 2003 WSOP Main Event, the event won by Chris Moneymaker.
Exposure 888.com received at the 2003 WSOP came from their sponsorship of ’95 WSOP Main Event Champion Dan Harrington, who went on to finish in third place. While 888.com couldn’t have known so in advanced, this turned out to be one of the best sponsorships bargains of all times. Dan Harrington’s tournament poker career soared after the 2003 event. He once again made the WSOP Main Event final table in 2004, and soon after scored $620K for a runner up WPT finish, and then $1.6 million for a WPT title. From here Harrington, went on to write an inspiring and insightful series of books, including the three volume “Harrington on Holdem” series as well as “Harrington on Cash Games”. As the result of his poker accomplishments and his contributions as an author, Dan Harrington won over the respect and admiration of the poker community. The year Harrington was sponsored by 888 was the same year Chris Moneymaker became the first player qualifying via an online satellite to win the Main Event. The final table broadcast of the 2003 WSOP Main Event has hands down been the most aired event in televised poker history, with reruns still running today.
With soft games fueled by casino spillover traffic, a strong marketing team, and the constant replenishing exposure the 2003 WSOP Main Event gave them, Pacific Poker quickly grew and soon became one of the largest poker sites in the world. Their momentum was broken, however, when on October 2, 2006 they stopped servicing the US market.
Pacific Poker in the US
On October 2, 2006, following the passage of the Safe Port Act, which included unrelated anti-gambling language to the act, known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act or UIGEA for short, Pacific Poker was the first online poker site to announce that they were leaving the US market. This move was followed by many other online poker sites within the days and hours that followed. Now, going on four years later, many feel Pacific Poker is preparing for a return to that same market they abandoned. In order to do so HR2267, a bill which would regulate online poker in the US, or a similar bill, would need to pass the House, Senate and then get signed into law by the President. This is looking promising as in July 2010 this bill (HR2267) passed House committee by a 41-22 vote, and many players and operators are hopeful for legal US poker by 2012.
Perhaps the challenge Pacific Poker will soon face is that since 2008 US prosecutors have been seeking to recapture $120 million that their parent company 888 Holdings plc, earned prior to leaving the US market. While this might seem absurd to some, the company behind PartyPoker.com negotiated a similar settlement in April 2009, agreeing to pay the United States government $105 million in penalties, for processing transactions that were “contrary to certain US laws”, in exchange for a “non-prosecution agreement”. When legal poker does come about in the US, this starting price of $105 million, offered in 2008 might be something Pacific Poker needs to address.
In the meantime of waiting for a US gambling license, the parent company behind Pacific Poker is in a prime position to benefit from poker in the US, as the result their agreement with Harrah’s, the owners of the WSOP/World Series of Poker brands, where 888 acts as the software provider for such products as WSOP Online and Caesars Poker. While perhaps its a little too early to speculate on Pacific Poker’s future in the US, with the large revenues they have, we’re sure they will figure it out. As players we’re sure rooting for Pacific Poker to return to the US, as due to casino, and now sports betting and bingo spillover traffic, their poker games are some of the softest online.