Originally published on WeeBet on 2026-05-26. Reposted with canonical link.
Online poker's player base in 2026 is fragmented across three structural segments. The largest by volume is licensed regulated poker — PokerStars (largest global player pool at ~60K concurrent cash, ~250K peak during WCOOP/SCOOP), GGPoker (~50K concurrent, ~380K peak during WSOP Online), and the various state-licensed US products (combined ~3K concurrent across MSIGA states). This segment captures most of the tournament series volume and most of the high-stakes cash action.
The second segment is US-facing offshore poker — primarily Americas Cardroom and the broader WPN network (combined ~3.5K cash concurrent), plus the Chico network (Ignition + BetOnline, ~2.2K combined). This segment serves US players outside the regulated states with offshore licensing and crypto-friendly banking.
The third segment is the crypto-native and club-based ecosystem — CoinPoker (~800 cash concurrent), BCPoker (~600), SwC Poker (~200), plus the much larger but harder-to-measure ClubGG / PPPoker / PokerBros volume operating under the play-money-plus-agent-settlement model. This segment's total volume is meaningful but difficult to quantify precisely because club-based apps don't publish traffic statistics on the same basis as licensed rooms.
Traffic trends through 2026
GGNetwork's combined traffic (GGPoker + Natural8 + regional skins) has remained stable through 2026 after multi-year growth. The network's market positioning — soft player pool, no third-party HUDs, WSOP partnership — has captured the recreational segment of the global player base. WSOP Online drove a 3-month traffic peak in mid-2026; underlying baseline traffic has not changed materially.
PokerStars's global .com product saw modest traffic decline through 2026 as the player base aged and as GGPoker captured recreational players from the same regulatory jurisdictions. PokerStars's state-licensed US products (NJ, PA, MI) saw the largest year-on-year growth in the regulated segment as MSIGA pool liquidity strengthened.
The Winning Poker Network plateaued through 2026. ACR's Venom remained the largest US-facing tournament series, but cash-game traffic did not grow meaningfully. The Chico network (Ignition + BetOnline) maintained its recreational US-facing positioning without significant traffic change.
Crypto-native poker saw the most aggressive year-on-year growth. CoinPoker added approximately 30% to its average cash-game concurrency through 2026. BCPoker's traffic followed BC.Game's broader product growth. The segment is still small in absolute terms — combined crypto-native cash concurrency is under 2,000 versus ~50,000 at GGNetwork — but the growth trajectory is the steepest in the industry.
Regulatory developments
The two largest regulatory stories of 2026 were the expansion of US state-licensed online poker and the continued tightening of Curaçao eGaming oversight.
Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Nevada operated MSIGA-pooled tournament series for the first time at scale through 2026. The combined player pool across the three states approached the size of typical mid-sized European regulated markets, providing the largest tournament guarantees ever seen in US-regulated online poker. New Jersey continued to operate within MSIGA but with the largest single-state player pool.
The Curaçao licensing regime, which underwrites most offshore poker rooms (CoinPoker, BCPoker, ACR via WPN, Ignition, partypoker .com), continued its transition through the 2024 reform. The reform tightened KYC and AML requirements for licensees. Rooms operating under the new Curaçao framework have less latitude for the no-KYC postures that defined the crypto-native segment's early years.
The European regulated market remained stable. Italian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese state-licensed pools held their existing structures. The UK Gambling Commission's regulatory framework continued to prioritize player protection over market growth, which has had the consequence of marginal year-on-year UK online poker growth.
Crypto poker market segment
CoinPoker's positioning as the standalone USDT-native poker product strengthened through 2026. The room's clean operational track record (continuous operation since 2017 with no major security incidents) combined with the optional-KYC posture maintained its lead in the crypto-native segment.
BCPoker grew alongside BC.Game's broader product expansion. The cross-product VIP integration captured players who would not have signed up for a poker-only product but who added poker volume to their broader BC.Game play.
SwC Poker maintained its niche Bitcoin-purist positioning. The room's continuous operation since 2013 — predating most current crypto poker products by years — remains its primary competitive moat. The 2026 cash-game pool stayed in the 200-concurrent range.
ClubGG and club-based poker
Club-based poker apps continued their pattern of strong adoption in markets where licensed online poker is unavailable, expensive, or unwelcome. Brazilian, Asian, and Russian/CIS markets remained the dominant ClubGG and PokerBros user bases. The structural agent-counterparty risk that defines the segment remained unchanged.
Notable 2026 development: Brazil's online gambling regulatory framework progressed through legislative steps that could meaningfully reduce ClubGG adoption in the country if licensed alternatives launch in 2027 or 2028. As of end of 2026, no licensed Brazilian online poker product has launched at scale.
Market-shaping events of 2026
The WSOP Online expansion. The 2026 WSOP Online series ran on GGPoker globally and on WSOP.com for US state-licensed players. The shared-pool MSIGA WSOP Online series in 2026 generated approximately $35M in combined guarantees across the three pooled states — the largest US-regulated online tournament series since the post-Black-Friday era.
The CoinPoker CHP token volatility cycle. CoinPoker's native token CHP experienced significant volatility through 2026, peaking and falling in the typical pattern of small-cap crypto assets. Player-side impact was muted because rakeback recipients can swap CHP to USDT on receipt.
The Curaçao licensing tightening. The continued reform of Curaçao's gaming licensing framework affected all Curaçao-licensed poker rooms (CoinPoker, BCPoker, ACR via WPN, Ignition, BetOnline). The practical implication has been gradual tightening of KYC thresholds and stronger compliance obligations on licensees, with no immediate disruption to player-facing experience.
The MSIGA expansion proposals. Multiple US states (Illinois, New York, Wisconsin) considered legislation to join MSIGA or to license online poker independently. None passed in 2026, but the policy environment for further state-level licensing has improved.
Looking forward
The 2027 outlook depends heavily on three factors:
Whether additional US states license online poker. Each additional state expanding the MSIGA pool meaningfully shifts the US online poker landscape.
Whether crypto-native poker continues its growth trajectory. A 30% year-on-year growth pattern, if sustained, would put crypto-native cash concurrency at meaningful absolute levels by 2028.
Whether the Curaçao licensing tightening produces operator exits. Some offshore rooms may exit the Curaçao market if compliance costs exceed margin sustainability. Player migration patterns following any exit would reshape the offshore segment.
For players, the practical implications of the 2026 state of online poker are unchanged from previous years: choose your room based on jurisdiction, stake range, deposit method, and software preferences. The room-level competition is intense; player-side value can be captured by careful room selection and active engagement with promotional cycles. The structural patterns — regulated vs offshore, fiat vs crypto, traditional vs club-based — continue to define the market landscape.
