There have been a lot of developments in the poker world since the US Department of Justice shutdown the online poker industry on April 15, 2011 (known as Black Friday in the poker world), and while many people have been adversely affected by the ongoing saga that is Black Friday there have also been a few glimmers of sunshine for certain people and groups. In my previous entry in this series I took a look at the losers and now it’s time to examine the winners.

Black Friday Winners

US Casino industry – The US casino industry only recently started advocating FOR online poker legislation, and not against. So, US casinos are likely licking their chops after the government eliminated all of their competition; giving the mega-casinos a complete monopoly of the online poker industry when regulation finally passes.

The US casino industry pushed for a blackout period in Harry Reid’s proposed legislation in 2010, and even though there is no longer a bill on the table, the blackout period has now begun thanks to the DOJ!

Poker Advocacy Groups – Everyone likes to be able to throw out a hearty “I told you so” and now the poker advocacy groups have been handed their major selling point on a silver platter as Full Tilt Poker is the poster-child for online regulation.

My guess is that more money will be flowing into these groups in the upcoming election cycle than anyone could possibly imagine.

PokerStars – PokerStars proved that there is a RIGHT way to run an online poker company. Not only did the online poker giant weather the storm of Black Friday, but they actually came through the other side in an even better position than they were pre-Black Friday; with an absolute monopoly on the online poker industry.

By doing everything right –minus operating in the US market– PokerStars will likely be the model that is held up by online poker advocates as legislation moves forward, proving that regulating the online poker industry can and will work.

European Poker Pros – While US poker pros watched their chance at a lucrative sponsorship fall by the wayside, and current pros saw their sponsorship deals expire, European poker pros were suddenly landing on many site’s short-lists. Other than the Daniel Negreanu’s and Phil Hellmuth’s of the world, the new darlings of the sponsorship business are the top young European poker talent like Sam Trickett, Chris Moorman, and Jake Cody –two of those three have already signed deals as Trickett joined Titan Poker while Moorman signed with Lock Poker.

Read Black Friday’s biggest losers

Tags: Absolute Monopoly, Advocacy Groups, Black Friday, Blackout Period, Casino Industry, Department Of Justice, Election Cycle, Full tilt Poker, Glimmers, Harry Reid, Monopoly, Online Poker, Poker Legislation, Poker World, PokerStars, Poster Child, Silver Platter, Upcoming Election, Us Department Of Justice, Weather The Storm

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.