4/14/2022

Google Trends Poker

According to Google Trends, gambling has moved online amid the closure of physical gambling venues coupled with cancellation of various sports events and tournaments. Similarly, the US-facing online social poker room Global Poker revealed a 43 increase in the use of online poker sites in America since the nationwide lockdown and social.
You can look at Google Trends for a sense of overall popularity. Searches for online poker in the US have gone down a lot more than WSOP entrants. It seems like the poker boom created a group of serious players (the kind who will consider paying $10,000 to enter the Main Event) that is “stickier” than the general public.

Google Trends Pokemon
Google Trends Poker Game
Google Online Poker
Google Trends Poker Games

Poker is still popular — we know that. Even during the global health pandemic, many card rooms around the world remain packed, and multiple online poker sites recently hosted major events that lured in thousands of players. But just how popular is the game today compared to the poker boom era, which is widely considered to be 2004 until Black Friday (April 2011)?

There are a couple of ways of getting the answer to this interesting question. The first method is to check and see what’s on mainstream television. Up through Black Friday, poker shows were regularly on the major networks especially in the U.S. — Poker After Dark (NBC), High Stakes Poker (Game Show Network), WSOP (ESPN), World Poker Tour (Fox Sports/Travel Channel), NBC National Heads-Up Championship (NBC), and Poker Superstars (Fox Sports).

After Black Friday, the networks lost their major sponsors — the poker sites. As such, poker on television is now limited to the WSOP Main Event in the summer, still on ESPN, and Fox Sports covering the WPT monthly. Poker fans now watch the game in other ways, such as the PokerGO streaming app or on Twitch, but the casual television audience is mostly gone.

Data driven analysis

Ever since Black Friday in April 2011, searches on Google for the phrase, “online poker,” have been down considerably. But two months ago, according to Google Trends, interest in online poker was nearly as high as it was during the latter days of the poker boom era.

The second method of analyzing poker’s popularity is to dig into the data. One way to do that is to use the Google Trends tool, which we recently did to evaluate online poker’s rebirth. Another method is to compare Nevada gaming results over the years, as the Silver State is home to Las Vegas, the poker capital of the world.

Google Trends provides some insightful data on the game of poker. The graph reveals how popular the search term “poker” on Google compares on a monthly basis from 2004 until present. As you’ll notice from the following graph, the slope takes a steep decline after hitting its peak popularity in July 2005, and then again following Black Friday.

Chris Moneymaker’s historic 2003 WSOP Main Event win sparked the most massive poker boom ever. People all around the world became fascinated with the game after watching an amateur like Moneymaker win poker’s most prestigious tournament on ESPN.

So by 2004 the game was growing at unthinkable heights and would continue to do so for the following few years. The above Google Trends graph compares the popularity of the “poker” search term to its peak month (July 2005). A score of 100 is the peak month, and a score of 50, for example, means total searches that month were 50% as frequent as the peak month.

July 2004 was the second most popular month for poker searches on Google, receiving a score of 99. During non-WSOP months every year, you’ll notice the popularity drops off compared to summer months. That is because poker is always at its most popular stages during the WSOP days.

After July 2007, the month Jerry Yang won the Main Event, the graph indicates a slow decline in popularity over the next four years. And then Black Friday struck in April 2011, and the drop became even more drastic. For the following nine years, the “poker” search term didn’t receive a score above 19 except in a few months that hit the low-20s.

But the game is now seeing a bit of a rebirth, per Google Trends. Searches were up over the summer, perhaps due to the WSOP Online Bracelet Series on WSOP.com and GGPoker. In July, interest in poker was as high as it has been since July 2011.

Nevada poker revenue

If you ever wondered how popular poker is at any given time, check the UNLV Center for Gaming Research. Nevada, home to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV), sets the tone for poker around the world. When poker revenue is up in Las Vegas, it’s typically up most places around the world.

So, how does current Nevada poker revenue compare to the poker boom era? Quite favorably compared to the early stages of the poker boom (2004), and not all that far off the height of the boom. In fact, July 2019 was Nevada’s most profitable month for poker, with the card rooms collecting $22,227,000 in rake.

Since the poker rooms reopened in June, revenue has been higher than most expected. June ($8,711,000), July ($8,838,000), and August ($7,169,000) were all successful months given the table limit restrictions and the world facing a global health pandemic. So, it’s a bit unfair to compare the pandemic era months to non-pandemic months. But we can still see that live poker remains relatively popular even during a public health crisis.

Prior to COVID-19, Nevada poker rooms raked in at least $10 million in revenue in both January and February. Last year, revenue surpassed the $10 million mark in just two months (June, July). From January 2005 until August 2011, the Silver State’s poker rooms raked in at least $10 million in every month except for three months (February 2005, September 2010, and February 2011).

Additionally, as some poker rooms in Las Vegas and Reno have closed in recent years, total number of card tables in Nevada are down. There were 1,002 poker tables around the state in July 2010 — the most ever. Pre-coronavirus, that number was down to 538 in March 2020. At present, with only 18 of the 31 poker rooms having reopened since COVID-19, that number is nearly cut in half, although it won’t remain that way permanently.

So, poker is still a very popular game and the future for poker remains bright. But the game was clearly more of a head-turner during the poker boom era.

Have you ever wondered where poker is popular? In which countries the poker is played the most? I HAVE TOO. So, I thought I would do some research for the same and came up with the top 10 countries where poker is popular.

Now you might ask me on what basis I came to the conclusion? Well, I used some Search tools to look at the popularity of the searches of the term “POKER“. Now, this data might not be accurate, as there are no tools out there that tell us the proper search volume of a particular term. This is the reason I did some further research using Google Trends. I looked at the countries where poker is most trending over a period of 10 years. And I also looked at the heat map for countries where poker is popular.

Now, just on the basis of search results and the trend of Poker in countries I couldn’t come to the conclusion. I also made a note on the total number of casinos in these countries to make a fair assessment.

So, in short, I came to the conclusion of the top countries where poker is popular on the basis of these:

Search volume of the word “Poker” in Google.
See the Google Trends for the game “Poker” over a period of 10 years.
Took a look at the “Heat Map” for countries where poker is popular.
The total number of “Casinos“ built in these countries.

Now, let us take a look at the heat map and check out the top countries where Poker is popular.

Heat Map for the countries where poker is popular

This is the heat map for the game Poker all over the world. The darker Blue indicates the countries where poker is more popular than in other countries. It is difficult to conclude from this by just seeing the image. But, you can get a fair idea when you use the tool for yourself. Go check out in Google Trendsfor yourself to get a better understanding.

Now, from the heat map Indonesia, United States, Canada, Russia, and Brazil seems to be the top 5 countries where poker is popular.

I’ll just share the Google Trends for the game Poker over 10 years.

From the above image, we can see that poker popularity is decreasing over time. But, over the last three years, it has been constant and the trend seems to continue in the future.

Ok now, that you guys have seen the Heat map and the Trend of poker over the last 10 years, let us take a look at the Top 10 Countries Where Poker is Popular.

Top 10 Countries Where Poker is Popular are as follows:

1. United States

The United States stands first in the list of the most popular countries where poker is popular. This is no surprise, to be honest. Poker is played everywhere in the US and most of the top poker players are from the US.

Here are some stats to show why the United States is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

The average number of poker searches over the last year is 246,000/mo. This is the most searched term by any countries in the world. The graph above shows us that the highest search was in October last year. But, it still has a healthy amount of search results in Google.
Total Number of Casinos in the United States is 460. This is the most in any countries as well. Las Vegas alone has 107 Casinos. These are all licensed Casinos. God knows how many non-licensed casinos are there in the US. Now, it is noted that having more casinos doesn’t mean all the people play poker over there. But, based on the searches, poker is the most played game in a casino in the US.
Also, huge number of people play poker online in the US. More than 100,000 people search online for the term “OnlinePoker“. This tells us that a lot of players play poker online in the US.

On the basis of these numbers, The United States is one of the top countries where Poker is popular.

2. Indonesia

Poker is super popular in Indonesia. Indonesia is a small country, but poker is super popular over there. There are not many professional poker players from Indonesia. But, that doesn’t mean it is not popular.

Here are some stats to show why poker is so popular in Indonesia.

The average number of poker searches over the last year is 201,000/mo. For a small country, a lot of people search Poker in Indonesia. The highest search results show’s in last Oct where the number went over 300,000. That is more than the United States. But, the average searches over the last year is less compared to the US.
Gambling is considered as illegal in Indonesia. Therefore there are no legal casinos over there.
The number of players searching for the term “OnlinePoker” is huge in Indonesia. Since there are no legal casinos in Indonesia, most of the people play online there. Research suggests that there are over 4000 online poker sites in Indonesia. This is the most in any countries by far.

All these stats suggest that Indonesia stands second in the list of countries where poker is popular.

3. Brazil

It was hard to decide between Brazil and Indonesia of who was supposed to be in position for number two. Both Brazil and Indonesia have similar search traffic. Also, Brazil has casinos in their country. So, it was a hard choice. But, I feel poker is more popular in Indonesia than Brazil.

Here are some stats to show why Brazil is one of the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

The number of search results suggests that it has an average of 135,000/mo. Poker is the top topics that is discussed in Brazil along with football. There is a huge craze for poker in Brazil. In fact more than 60% of the population there are into Poker. This is an amazing stat to look at.
The number of casinos in Brazil is around 10. These ten casinos are the legalized casinos. A lot of people visit casinos just to play poker in Brazil. The number of casinos might not be more, but the casinos present are always jam-packed.
In Brazil, Online poker is played more than people visiting casinos. The reason is of less number of casinos that are available. Even though online gambling is illegal in Brazil, 4 billion of revenue is generated through it.

All these stats suggest that Brazil stands third in the list of countries where poker is popular.

4. Canada

There are a lot of people that play poker in Canada. It is legal to play both online and casino poker in Canada. There is a huge number of casinos in Canada where the majority of people play poker. Also, a lot of poker pros are from Canada.

Here are some stats to show why poker is so popular in Canada.

The poker search results in Google doesn’t make justification for the popularity of the game. Even though the number show around 41,000/mo, the actual search results are much more than this. The reason it is less is that it doesn’t include Canada ( Spain). That is the Spanish talking people living in Canada. The actual search results go above 85,000/mo.
As I mentioned earlier, there is a huge number of casinos in Canada. There is a total of 219 casinos in Canada. This might be another reason for the lesser number of search results.
Online Poker in Canada is completely legal and a lot of players play online. There are a lot of big poker players from Canada that earn a lot from Online Poker.

All these stats suggest that Canada stands fourth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

5. Malaysia

Malaysia gained popularity in poker over the recent 5 years. And it has picked up in big time. Now there are two sets of people in Malaysia. The Muslims and the non-Muslims. Muslims is against playing gambling games and is a sin for them to play poker. But, the other group of people is ruled to play gambling games. They even have two sets of gambling law for the same reason.

Here are some stats to show why poker is so popular in Malaysia.

You can see why poker is so popular in Malaysia. There has been no change in the search results over the last year. A total of 91,000/mo searches are being googled by people. Now, take into consideration that only half of the people in Malaysia play poker due to their religion. But still, the search results are good.
There is only one Casino in Malaysia. It’s located at the Genting Highlands. But the casino doesn’t have live poker tables. All it has is poker tables that you play with the dealer. There is no dedicated poker table to play poker with other players. But, still, a lot of people visit the casino to play in-house poker.
Since there is only one casino and it doesn’t have the live poker tables, people in Malaysia play poker online. There are a few poker sites that allow playing online and is legal. So, most of the people there play poker online.

All these stats suggest that Malaysia stands fifth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

Note:The search volume of poker is much more in Malaysia than in Canada. But just because of the number of casinos in Canada is more, I am ranking Malaysia to the fifth position.

6. France

France is a beautiful country with lots of poker enthusiasts. A lot of good poker players have been produced from France. The leading Parisian Poker salon Aviation Club de France conducts the World Poker Tour tournament and each year the number of player doubles the past records. This alone tells us how popular poker is becoming in France.

Here are some stats to show why poker is so popular in Malaysia.

You can see that an average of about 75,000/mo Searches is made in Google for the term Poker in France. The number is increasing drastically year by year. A lot of people have started to play poker over there.
The number of casinos in France is huge. There are a total of 160 state-licensed casinos in France. Therefore a lot of people visit casinos to play poker.
Even online poker is completely legal and a lot of players play poker online in France.

All these stats suggest that France stands Sixth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

7. The United Kingdom

There has been a lot of talks recently about poker being the trending topic in the UK. And it is true. A lot of people have started to play poker and the popularity is increasing exponentially.

Here are some stats to show why The UK is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

You can see the number of searches of the term Poker is about 70,000 /mo on an average. I am pretty sure the curve is only going to increase from year by year.
The total number of casinos in the UK is about 158. All these 158 casinos are completely legal and offer live poker tables in them. This is also one of the reasons why a lot of people prefer to play poker in casinos and this directly reflects the search results.
Playing poker online is completely legal too in the UK. But, as I said before, a lot of players prefer to play poker in Casinos.

All these stats suggest that the UK stands seventh in the list of countries where poker is popular.

8. Italy

Italy is a country that has legalized gambling for both online and for casinos. You can play poker in Italy without worrying anything. The only worrying factor is that the taxes are pretty high in Italy and you lose a lot of your winnings as taxes.

Here are some stats to show why Italy is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

The search results show that the poker search results have taken a dip in volume. But the average search results show us that it is still at 75,000 m/0 searches on Google.
As there is no problem running a casino, there are plenty of casinos in Italy. It has a total of 36 casinos in the whole country. That is a decent amount of casinos to play poker. And there are live poker tables in almost all the casinos in Italy.
Since online gambling is legal too, a lot of players play poker online. There are plenty of poker sites that offer a good platform to play poker in Italy.

All these stats suggest that Italy stands eighth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

9. India

In India Poker is picking up nicely. Over the last 5 years, more and more people are playing poker. In fact, if I would consider Teen Patti in the search engine, then India would be at the top of the list. More than 1 Million searches happen for the game Teen Patti. This is more than any countries that I mentioned.

Here are some stats to show why India is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

I have to rank the countries based on the number of searches of the game “Poker”. And hence I am ranking it as 1oth in the popularity. It gets an average of 60,500 M/o searches in Google. This is going to increase exponentially and I am sure it is going to be the most popular countries where poker is popular soon.
There have been some legal issues for the casinos in India. As of now, it is illegal to run casinos in Land. Therefore, the casinos are built in Ships and cruise in the ocean. There are around 15 casinos in India. Most of them are located at Goa.
The number of online sites to play poker has been increasing in India. Since it is legal to play online gambling, a lot of people play poker online in India.

All these stats suggest that India stands ninth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

10. Germany

Germany is a country with plenty of poker pros. A lot of players have been successful recently. It is also a country where online poker is banned. So, the only source of playing poker is from Casinos.

Here are some stats to show why Germany is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

About 68,000 m/0 searches for the term Poker in Germany. This is a pretty decent number. Also, in Germany poker is more played in Casinos than online. Hence the number is a bit low.
There are about 20 Casinos in Germany which are legal. You can play live poker in all the casinos in Germany. Hence, a lot of people visit casinos to play poker.
Online Poker is banned in Germany. It is illegal to play any gambling games online. This is the reason, I am ranking it so low.

All these stats suggest that Germany stands tenth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

Some of the other Countries where Poker is Popular

Russia

A lot of people believe that Russia should be in the top 3 of the list of most popular countries where poker is played. And they are rightfully so. The only reason I am not mentioning is that I don’t have the data with me to support the same. There are said be around 4,000 casinos in Russia. But, in recent times only 5 states permit gambling and most of the casinos are shut down. This is also one of the reasons I haven’t mentioned Russia to be in the top 3.

Mexico

Poker is pretty famous in Mexico and a lot of people play poker over there. There are about 208 casinos in Mexico. But most of them are famous for other games than poker.

China

China is another county where poker is gaining popularity. I don’t have the data with me to support china now since in China Google is banned and they use their own browser. Being the most populated county in the world suggest that poker is also played a lot over there. Hence this is also a county where poker is popular.

Romania

Poker has gained popularity recently in Romania. I don’t have much data to prove this, but in another 2-3 years, poker will be a trending topic in Romania. There are about 9 casinos in Romania.

Columbia

Columbia is another country where poker is popular. There are about 15 legal casinos in Columbia. Also, online poker is completely legal in Columbia.

Philippines

This is the last country that I want to mention where poker is pretty famous and is gaining a lot of popularity. There are about 18 casinos in the Philippines.

These were the top countries where Poker is Popular. Hope you learned something. Thanks for reading. Leave a comment on which country you live and where do you think poker is popular. 😉

Google Trends Pokemon