dvtimes
12-09-05, 07:02 PM
The Big Poker Gamble 700pm - 7:30pm BBC2
Is online poker as good a business as it makes out? That's the question this film doesn't quite answer. It's an intriguing look at the explosion of popularity in the game, but whether companies such as Party Poker have a rosy future as mass-market brands is left wide open. It would have been nice to have had more hard-nosed analysis of the money side, the kind of thing a Dragons' Den contestant expects in their first five minutes. Instead, Party Poker's rich and po-faced chief executive gets an easy ride, while we meet online players and follow their fortunes (mostly healthy, though in the long run, we're told, only 20 per cent of players prosper). The cloud looming is the technicality that online gambling is illegal in the USA, though no prosecutions have yet been brought against poker sites.
May be worth watching.
Is online poker as good a business as it makes out? That's the question this film doesn't quite answer. It's an intriguing look at the explosion of popularity in the game, but whether companies such as Party Poker have a rosy future as mass-market brands is left wide open. It would have been nice to have had more hard-nosed analysis of the money side, the kind of thing a Dragons' Den contestant expects in their first five minutes. Instead, Party Poker's rich and po-faced chief executive gets an easy ride, while we meet online players and follow their fortunes (mostly healthy, though in the long run, we're told, only 20 per cent of players prosper). The cloud looming is the technicality that online gambling is illegal in the USA, though no prosecutions have yet been brought against poker sites.
May be worth watching.