The Indian holiday celebrating Diwali – the triumph of light over darkness – has provided a welcome boost to online poker operators across the nation, reports the Times of India.
Spartan Poker saw its usual average of around 500 concurrent players double during the holiday, with average bets tripling from Rs 100 per table to Rs 300 per table during Diwali. The operator revealed that experienced players spend as much as 7-10 hours playing poker.
“Players will stay on for 2-4 hours on average. For tournament players, it could be anywhere from 2-7 hours as deeply structured tournaments tend to go on for a longer time,” said Amin Rozani, MD and co-founder, TheSpartanPoker.
Khelo365, which claims it has over 10,000 unique players on a daily basis, said that over Diwali this number had soared to just short of 13,000, with average stakes going up by 28 percent during the week.
The operator Mad Over Poker claimed 700-800 unique players daily and said that its weekend tournament results are likely to show higher overall numbers and personal spend.