According to the weekly PokerScout Scouting Report, cash game traffic across the world’s largest online poker networks climbed 2.7% last week, the biggest jump since June 16. That week, overall traffic rose 9% and PokerStars paced the field with an amazing 23% increase in cash game traffic due to its 100 billionth hand celebration. As we move into the fall in the Northern Hemisphere, traffic will likely continue to increase.

PokerStars is fresh off offering VIP Happy Hours as part of VIP Club Month. During set times of the day, the number of points players could accumulate on PokerStars increased, leading to a bump in counts at the tables. As the Scouting Report pointed out, players were receptive to the promotion: “During each of the three daily Happy Hours, large traffic spikes appeared. On some days, the primetime Happy Hour lifted traffic more than 67%.”

Player counts generally rose during the 60-minute Happy Hours and then fell back to normal as soon as the stanza had ended. As PokerScout explained, “The PokerStars promo offered rewards that were very limited in duration with long gaps in between. In this case, one-eighth of the day was comprised of Happy Hours, which did raise the daily averages, but not by much.” Happy Hours ended on August 11.

Should industry executives be surprised to see only short increases in player counts during these types of promotions? PokerScout’s Dan Stewart told PocketFives in an exclusive interview, “I think it has probably always been that way. The increased traffic from promotions – a lot of times what you’ll get is not necessarily more players coming in, but changes in the way they play. So, you’ll get tournament players who play more cash games because of a promotion. Or, you’ll get ring game players who play more tables or play longer. When the promotion ends, traffic and patterns go back to normal.”

As Stewart contended, even if a promotion like VIP Happy Hours doesn’t bring in new players, “It generates attention and excitement and gives something back to the players that makes them loyal to the site.”

Year over year, PokerStars’ cash game traffic is up 5%, while the iPoker Network, the second largest family of sites worldwide, is down 10%. Week over week, the sites are up 3% and 2%, respectively.

Also churning out traffic is Microgaming, whose traffic was up by 10% week over week. Microgaming ran a promotion called Blaze Cash Drop to promote its fast-fold poker game called Blaze Poker. The PokerScout Scouting Report noted, “The Blazing Cannon promotion started on Wednesday and lifted traffic another 5% to 17% above normal. Blazing Cannon will continue indefinitely, as no end date has been announced.”

Last week, our feature article about the Scouting Report focused on the battle between PokerStars and Winamax for supremacy in France. According to Stewart, France encompasses about 8% of the worldwide poker market, which he characterized as “not trivial, but not huge compared to the total pool.” By comparison, the United States before Black Friday made up about 25% to 30% of the world’s poker market.

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 hereor contacting support@pokerscout.com.

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