The independent online poker monitor Pokerscout’s numbers for the first quarter of 2015 indicate that cash game activity declined 3.4 percent compared with the same period in 2014.
Although disappointing, the downward trend is not as steep as it was when Q1-2014 was compared to Q1-2013, where Q1-2014 was 8 percent down by comparison.
Pokerscout records that the biggest declines in Q1-2015 were experienced by Partypoker and the iPoker Network, which suffered drops of 10.5 percent and 10 percent respectively.
888Poker has done rather better than its rivals, sitting behind market leader Pokerstars with a seven-day average of 2,800 ring-game players and bucking the downward trend by achieving a 5 percent rise in activity.
Full Tilt and Pokerstars were not immune to the downward trend; Full Tilt’s traffic dropped by 8.5 percent, while Pokerstars dropped by approximately four percent. Considering that Pokerstars pulled out of 30 national markets in late 2014, it is perhaps surprising that its slide southwards was not more pronounced.
Nevertheless, with a seven day average of 18,000 ring game players, Pokerstars continues to hold a massive lead on its closest rivals.