Party Poker pulled out of the US market back in October 2006 due to UIGEA and as a consequence of that, lost the number one spot that it had held for 4 years. In 2009 the company paid the US government a total of $105 million in penalties and while that didn’t solve all issues it did mean that no charges were ever brought against them. The pulling out of the market and paying their fines meant that of course, as soon as the landscape changed in the US they would be back in on the action, and that has indeed happened. As of November 25th 2013 Party Poker are back in the US market, and although they are only operational in the state of New Jersey it does signify a return. Being able to only accept players from one state means that they will never be as large as online poker rooms such as Bovada Poker who accept players from across the states, but they have already shot up the rankings in regards to online poker traffic.
They opened up their virtual doors and it appears online poker players in the Garden State were more than willing to give them a shot as they were averaging just over 350 players online. That does of course only put them in 5th place behind all offshore poker sites, but it does put them ahead of all other sites in both Nevada and New Jersey. This follows a very aggressive TV marketing campaign and of course the name will still be recognised by many players. It will be hard for rooms to take that position away from Party Poker with the 2 rooms in Nevada simply not having the player pool in which to market to. Interesting times ahead for Party, and all they need now, as does everyone concerned, are those interstate deals to be made that allow shared player pools.
