The pandemic has been tough across the board, but online poker and other online gambling entities thrived during the global shutdown. When casinos had to shut their doors, even in Sin City, many gamblers headed online to virtual options. Online poker and online gambling spiked across the board. The pandemic was an awful thing and disrupted business on a global scale, but online poker saw a huge surge and a wave of new players that hit the virtual felt to get their gambling fix.

Run It Once (aka RIO) had a nice bump even though they did not accept American players. However, when the shutdowns ended and when brick and mortar poker rooms and casinos re-opened for the first time, gamblers flocked to their favorite gambling locales. In some areas like Las Vegas, poker rooms were shuttered by bean counters and lack of staffing. Heck, even Caesars trimmed their fat and you can only find a couple places to play live poker on the Strip — and that’s from the folks that bring you the World Series of Poker. You know it was a sad day when the iconic Mirage shut down its poker room in November 2020.

After a nice spike during the earliest days of the pandemic, online poker saw their numbers dip across the board. Run It Once took a big hit as well. Phil Galfond penned a state of the union address that read a little bit like a eulogy. But not to fear. He’s shutting down his passion project until he can legally open it up in the USA. Right now, online poker is not legal on a federal scale, but it’s legal on a state-by-state basis. Only six states offer legal online poker including Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, and Michigan.

Keep an eye on Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, and New York in the immediate future. Those look like the next four states that could finally spread legal online poker. It’s crazy to think that sportsbetting and marijuana was legalized in so many states in the union before online poker, but American politics is never logical.

California came close to online poker, but it’s fallen to the wayside more times to count. In 2022, there will be a big push to bring sportsbetting to the great republic of California, but online poker is still a long way from becoming a reality for the biggest potential market in the union.

Galfond made the tough decision to shut down Run It Once so he can position himself to enter the US market.

“Run It Once Poker is now headed down a path to enter the legal &…….

Source: https://en.clubpoker.net/phil-galfond-run-it-once-poker-shutting-down-to-focus-on-us-market/n-1596