Yahoo! Online Rumored to be Searching for Buyouts in the Poker Market

Party Poker is one of the many online poker companies that can be the target of Yahoo! Online Poker as a start of Yahoo's strategic dominance of the competitive online poker industry.

On May 19, 2007, with Yahoo! joining the online poker industry and the World Poker Tour (WPT) online site becoming a better network, it appears that the future of the online poker market depends on having known brands that have vast financial resources.

World Poker Tour founder and CEO, Steven Lipscomb, stated that well-known brands are treated as kings in the poker industry. He also said that he will be surprised if there are any other non-famous online sites that can launch in the online poker market and establish a strong hold in the industry.

With recognizable brands like Yahoo! and the WPT getting their own space in the market, already occupied with other poker brands like Party Poker and others, the amount of cash that it would take to make a recognizable brand would be too large.

Newcomers to the online poker industry, like StraightFlush, have a better advantage compared to Yahoo! One of the reasons is that new companies are willing to accommodate U.S. based customers despite the UIGEA problem. Yahoo! must go head to head with other European based poker companies for their share of the profits because they are not accepting U.S. based customers anymore.

According to Doug Caverly, despite the problems, Yahoo! has correctly placed themselves to compete with Ladbrokes and William Hill for a share of the market.

Aside from their acquisition plans, some of the concerns that Yahoo! needs to address are the GamCare and the "Responsible Gambling Law".

June 04, 2007
William Atkins