According to the Weekly Scouting Reportpublished by the cash game traffic monitoring site PokerScout, the 2014 FIFA World Cup is depressing internet poker traffic around the world.

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It is common knowledge that football is the most popular sport in the world and, not surprisingly, the World Cup is the most popular sporting event.

In fact, the immense popularity of the World Cup has hurt cash game traffic on all of the major poker sites and networks. In its weekly report, PokerScout showed that when the match between Germany and Portugal kicked off on June 16 at 9:00am Pacific Time, PokerStars‘ cash game traffic plunged to 15% below normal.

Traffic hit its peak, as one might predict, between the first and second matches of the day. When the second match between Iran and Nigeria began, traffic once again fell and remained weak, even through what would normally be the strongest time of day for cash game traffic. The final match of the day between Ghana and the United States also depressed traffic, but not significantly, as it took place during off-peak hours.

The US-Ghana match did have a fairly sizable effect on traffic on the regulated poker sites in the States, though. Traffic on the New Jersey poker rooms took a 10% to 15% hit during the game and dropped even more during the huge US-Portugal showdown on Monday, although PokerScout did not give exact figures for that match.

It is not a huge surprise that the match between Germany and Portugal hurt PokerStars so much, as Germany is one of the top countries for online poker traffic. The Belgium-Russia match punched cash game traffic in the gut, as well, whereas the match between Korea and Algeria had little effect.

PokerStars is the largest internet poker room in the world, so that is the one we tend to notice the most when noteworthy events happen, but the World Cup affected the other poker rooms just the same. According to PokerScout, during the Germany-Portugal match, traffic at PokerStars, PartyPoker, and the iPoker Network fell a combined 25%. Full Tilt Pokerand 888 Poker also suffered, sinking 17%.

PokerScout expects cash game traffic to be hit even harder as the World Cup advances, as the games will become more important and people around the world will be watching even more intently. However, PokerScout also pointed out that there will be fewer matches as the World Cup goes on, so the periods of depressed poker play will not be as frequent as they are now.

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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