Google searches for online poker rise amid lockdown

When the entire world went into a forced lockdown due to the Coronavirus in March online poker had a notable yet predictable rise in popularity, with new data suggesting that the trend will continue.

According to a report by the HSO, 50% of workers in the UK will continue to work from home even after the lockdown is lifted, suggesting that people will have more time to do things like play video games or play online poker.

In March, Google searches for ‘online poker’ spiked to its highest point since 2013 as punters began to flock to online tables while poker rooms began to close.

There has been a slight reduction in searches over the past month as the lockdown begins to ease, although on some sites like partypoker there has been another significant rise.

The amount of searches for ‘partypoker’ has risen by 12% between March 25 and March 29 compared to the previous week, demonstrating that the trend is far from fizzling out.

Pokerstars, on the other hand, has struggled to keep up momentum after the annual SCOOP series finished, with a notable reduction in searches coming in the past few weeks.

However, while revenue from poker is almost certainly up since the lockdown began it’s worth noting that one of the main sources of income for poker operators is sports betting, which has effectively come to a halt due to the lack of sporting events.

This month we have seen top tier German football return to our television screens while the Premier League in the UK will also return in June, both of which should spur a type of sportsbook boom that could in turn further increase liquidity on poker platforms.

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