The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker events that takes place annually in Las Vegas. The Main Event many players consider it to be the most prestigious tournament in the world. Attendance trends at the Main Event offer an idea about the popularity of live poker over time, but how do these numbers relate to the strength of the economy?
The WSOP Main Event has a buy-in of $10,000, and the game is tough. Even professional players dedicate a lot of time to refining live poker tournament strategies in preparation for the event. It’s a risky financial move for anyone to take. In that way, the attendance relates not only to the current popularity of poker but also to economic factors like disposable income and consumer confidence.
History of WSOP Attendance
First, let’s examine the WSOP figures to get an idea of how attendance has changed over time. First of all, the WSOP has existed since 1970, and since its inception, it has seen constant growth year-on-year all the way up until 2006.
Growth was especially explosive during the poker boom, and in 2006, the WSOP Main Event had peak numbers of 8,773 players, the highest in the history of the tournament. It looked like the trend would continue, yet attendance dropped off significantly the following year to 6,358.
From 2007 onwards, the WSOP had a roller-coaster ride, with yearly gains and dips in the field of players, but never quite reached the same heights again, hovering around the 6,500 mark over the coming years. In 2010, attendance spiked to 7,319, yet flopped again the next year.
The last few years have seen a more promising steady upward trend from 6,420 players in 2015 to 7,874 players in 2018, the second-highest number ever in the tournament’s history. There is no shortage of reasons for this upward curve.
Economic Perspective on WSOP Attendance
What’s especially interesting about these figures is how well they match up with economic data of the same time frame. Of course, the rising and falling popularity of the WSOP Main Event has many reasons, but one factor that influences such a high buy-in event is the health and stability of the economy.
Take the peak years of the poker boom, between 2003 and 2006. At this time, consumer confidence was quite high, from 100–110 on the consumer confidence index (CCI) scale. Unemployment was also as low as 5 percent during the most popular years of attendance.
After 2006 attracted the most players ever, there was little reason to think that 2007 would slow down, but this was the year that legislation passed in America making it hard to play online, knocking down confidence with it.
Despite this, attendance bounced back in 2008, but the economic crash threw in another curveball, and attendance once again dropped for the first post-recession tournament in 2009. At this time, CCI had also bottomed out at 25.
With the recovery of the economy so too has the attendance numbers for the WSOP Main Event. Interestingly, the trends in the last six years have followed a similar pattern to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has seen positive trends as of late. With the maturing and stabilizing of the stock market so too has the WSOP regained its composure. In 2016, there was an upward trend once more, boosted by a CCI now over 100 once more.
Player Confidence and Accessibility
Aside from the direct correlations between WSOP attendance and economic factors, the world of live and online poker also has an independent journey based on regulatory policy, accessibility and consumer confidence in the gambling marketplace.
One of the worst moments for poker, especially in America, was Black Friday in April 2011. Players woke up to find their accounts frozen, and they were unable to get their bankrolls back for a long time. Of course, confidence in the online poker scene fell to an all-time low, and players all over the world feared that they could lose their funds.
Though WSOP attendance that year was not bad (many players seeing this as their curtain call), there was a huge drop-off in the years to follow.
Conversely, in recent years, players have regained a sense of trust in the regulated marketplace. Online poker is now available in Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey, with more states expected to follow. The online market now links to the live scene, with many online poker sites offering satellite games to win cheaper entry to the big events. In the last couple of years, 100 online players from Nevada alone gained entry via satellite.
In a lot of ways, the WSOP Main Event has become more accessible, with satellites playing a significant part of that. Last year, when attendance reached its second-highest point ever, the scheduling was also critical. The tournament ran on July 4th, so players already had holidays and only had to take Thursday, July 5th through Friday, July 6th off of work to attend.
What does it all mean?
With so many factors mingling together, it’s hard to break down the impact that economic stability and growth has on WSOP attendance. However, it’s clear that poker has its journey, and that certain trends in popularity follow on from disruptive events in the marketplace.
We also get a sense that the overall health of the economy has a tangible impact on attendance. More players have attended during years when the stock market is stable and consumer confidence high. Though the popularity and accessibility of poker fluctuate independently, economic factors seem to help determine the floor and ceiling for attendance figures.
Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post. In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.
