It was only a week ago that the online poker player pools of Nevada and Delaware were mergedin the United States’ first interstate online poker compact, but the change is already paying dividends for the First State. According to PokerScout’s Weekly Scouting Report, the effect the merger has had on cash game traffic has been nothing less than substantial.

This new development in the world of internet poker dates back about 13 months, when Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed the “Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement,” which authorized online gambling player traffic to cross virtual state borders. It was nothing new for interstate gaming, as lotteries like Powerball and Mega Millions are shared among many states, but it was groundbreaking for poker.

It took more than a year to get things off the ground, supposedly because of “technical glitches,” though it wouldn’t be at all surprising if there were a lot of regulatory issues that needed to be ironed out. The player pool merger finally happened on March 24 in what was termed a “soft launch,” essentially meaning the states and poker sites have not started marketing it heavily.

The merger to this point includes the three Delaware gaming sites – DelawarePark.com, DoverDowns.com, and HarringtonGamingOnline.com – and Nevada’s WSOP.com, all of which use 888‘s software. 888 also plans on launching the All American Poker Networkin Nevada at some point, which will include the aforementioned sites plus a new 888 poker room and an offering from Treasure Island.

So far, the merger has been a great boon to Delaware. Before the combination, PokerScout consistently reported Delaware cash game traffic in the single digits. Then, in the middle of the night, there was no traffic at all. As PokerScout said, “Delaware was a living illustration of the negative side of network effects: the poor getting poorer.”

That is to say, online poker traffic sustains itself. When a player logs onto a site and sees plenty of players and active tables, he will stay. That player adds to the site’s traffic, making the site even more attractive to prospective players. On the flip side, if someone checked out one of the Delaware sites, they would likely turn around and leave. The nearly empty poker room can’t draw any players because it is nearly empty, so it stays nearly empty. It’s a death spiral.

Since the merger, average player counts on the combined network have never fallen below 55. On the day of the merger, cash game traffic peaked at a bit over 300 players during primetime East Coast hours. One of the keys, though, is that with Nevada players onboard, there are still enough people playing later at night because of the three-hour time zone difference to keep traffic buoyed during off-hours.

Most of the difference, of course, is because of Nevada’s addition to the player pool. Nevada players are not going to see a huge change after adding Delaware. PokerScout does believe, though, that some Delaware players may have been added because of the more attractive tables.

Pre-merger, PokerScout, said, the average player count for the two states was about 155, whereas afterward, it has been about 165, an increase of 6.5%. This could indicate a reversal of that death spiral: players now see that there are enough active tables, so they stay, adding to the player traffic.

Visit PocketFives’ Nevada pokercommunity and Delaware poker community for the latest news and discussion from local players.

PokerScout’s Scouting Report is a daily newsletter for the online poker industry, with in-depth data and analysis of the market. More information can be found by clicking here or contacting support@pokerscout.com.

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