Online Poker News Blog

Second-largest Crowd Leaves Las Vegas After WSOP Main Event

August 13, 2007 on 9:07 am | In Poker News |

USA Today includes in its news that a record 6,358 players attended poker’s Main Event, the second largest recorded turnout in the World Series of Poker.

Even though it was down from the 8,773 players from last year, it is still a feat considering that the government just passed the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. This law forbids customers of banks and credit card companies from paying online poker sites, which is considered as an illegal form of gambling.

This law also crushes the dreams of any Chris Moneymaker wannabes. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker won the online tournament at PokerStars.com and the online poker site paid for his $10,000 entry fee for poker’s Main Event. He eventually won the Main Event, winning as much as 2.5 million dollars. But because of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the World Series of Poker had to reject all online poker site registrations in behalf of a player this year.

Though if the World Series of Poker were able to accept these registrations, then the number of players in poker’s Main Event would reach up to over 10,000.

Whatever the numbers say and whatever laws they pass, it is clear that poker’s popularity won’t be fading any time soon.

source: USA Today