The United Kingdom has a long history of legal gambling, with horse racing and sports betting being particularly popular. Although destination casinos exist, the local gambling culture centers more around small-scale betting shops. Recent regulatory policy changes meant to curb problem gambling have sent the industry reeling and forced many of these shops to close.
The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour is the main local poker series, now that the former UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) has been folded into the international PokerStars Open tour.
London is occasionally a stop on the European Poker Tour (EPT), but not a consistent one.
Online poker sites must be locally licensed, but are able to be part of global dot-com networks, so the traffic is not ring-fenced.
Top UK poker pros include Stephen Chidwick, Ben Heath and Sam Trickett.
Poker operators have focused more and more on mobile gaming and social media in recent years. With millions and millions… Continue reading PokerStars Gets Personal with New Social Gaming Features ‘The Rail’ and ‘Throwables’
