Bodog Conference Opens
Published: Friday, July 08, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
BODOG CONFERENCE OPENS
TV networks love poker, says top tournament director
The 2005 Bodog Conference - the betting companys third - opened this week with
founder and CEO Calvin Ayre explaining that "This (conference) is our attempt
to bring people together who have long been neglected, from the sports and poker
side of the industry.
"Nearly every major sports betting company has a poker room and there are
even rumblings that some of the poker companies are looking to get into the sports
betting side of things. There is a huge amount of overlay between poker and sports,"
he said.
Bodog's chief referred to the symbiotic relationship between online poker rooms
and land casinos, too.
"The progressive casinos ... acknowledge the industry for what it is,"
said Ayre, a Canadian whose site is based in Costa Rica. "We are a large
feeder system for the (land) casinos and Las Vegas is the center of this space."
In 2003, poker witnessed $320 million in revenues. This year the industry is
looking at $3 billion - a significant increase.
"You can't turn on the television without seeing a poker tournament going
on," explained top Poker Tournament Director, Matt Savage. "The networks
are so happy."
He repeated a story in which the American TV network ABC was at first a reluctant
to jump on the bandwagon - an attitude that changed once they noticed the huge
ratings the game generated.
"ESPN in 2003 decided to go really big with the World Series of Poker.
They were happy with the ratings and then the ABC execs decided that the network
should not be focusing on poker. 'We are a sports network,' they told everybody.
But the ratings kept climbing and the reruns performed better than the original
airings."
Eventually the network suits caved in and poker has since outperformed the NHL,
MLB and NBA in terms of television ratings.
Savage also told the audience that an unprecedented 6000 plus players had signed
up for this year's World Series of Poker. With a $60 million prize pool, nine
new millionaires will walk away from this event. Impressive indeed considering
only a few hundred entered just two years ago.
And online poker rooms are fueling the craze through important satellite tournaments
with prizes of buy-ins to major tournaments.
Savage opined that Bodog Poker will become one of the leading poker rooms by
this time next year.
