The pandemic that represented a catastrophic wave of bad luck for humanity materialized in the form of a lucky hit for Alex de Sousa Brito. In early March, the commercial manager and the woman were unemployed, with no prospect of relocation and concerned about the future of their 9 and 5-year-old children. Amateur poker player and locked at home in the city of Osasco, in São Paulo, because of social isolation, Brito decided to play the Sunday Million, a tournament promoted by PokerStars, the largest online poker site in the world, which would distribute US$18.6 million in prizes in the edition to be played between March 22 and 24.
As he did not have the US$215 required for registration, he was forced to participate in qualifying tables. He won these stages and the right to enter the final stage. “And then the miracle happened,” says Brito. "I won the championship." It was not just any victory. After playing for three consecutive days, in uninterrupted twelve-hour journeys and approximately 20,000 hands, the Brazilian surpassed 93,000 players - of which 17,000 were professionals - to pocket US$1.19 million, one of the biggest prizes in the history of the circuit.
The fantastic achievement exemplifies how the coronavirus crisis led new players to take their chances at the virtual tables. "Without the pandemic, I would probably be working in an office," says Brito. In fact, the numbers show that COVID-19 has moved this type of gambling around the world. According to the Poker Industry Pro consultancy, which monitors the traffic of this business worldwide, the total of digital tables has grown 150% since January.
It is estimated that 10 million people began to risk their luck online during the pandemic, joining a contingent of 150 million users. At PokerStars, player volume has increased by 50% since February. Another well-known betting site, Bodog, has detected a 30% increase in traffic to its pages in the last three months, a period marked by the advancement of the coronavirus pandemic.
Several reasons explain the phenomenon. In an interview with American TV, Matt Primeaux, president of PokerStars, a publicly traded company that last year earned US$821 million, said that people have migrated to online gambling because they cannot leave home right now to meet friends at weekly poker sessions, a widespread habit in the United States.
Other players are simply trying to spice up long stays indoors. There is a third group, this one more susceptible to suffer the negative effects of the game, which tries to earn some change in digital disputes, even without having experience. The last class of fans is the most restricted, that of professional players who cannot go to casinos, since almost all bookmakers are closed. Renowned tournaments like the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker had to surrender to online after the cancellation of live events. For professionals confined at home, the only way out is the internet.
Brazil has in recent years become a storehouse of great card players. According to the PocketFives website, which organizes information about this sport, Brunno Botteon -from Brazilian state of Espírito Santo- last week ranked tenth in the world ranking of online poker, but he has already reached the fifth position in the world. Although Brazil has no casinos, the card fever has won over a legion of fans.
According to the Brazilian Confederation of Texas Hold'em (the most played form of poker), there are 7 million regular players in the country and every year half a million bettors start playing, both physical and virtual. In absolute numbers, Brazil is the eighth country with the largest number of poker players in the world on a list led by the United States.
Packed by this growth, the increase in traffic on online pages had a direct effect on the prizes. With more participants paying registration fees to be eligible to play tournaments, the prizes automatically grew. The higher values started to seduce more players, which feeds the process.
The Irish Open Online Poker, one of the main events on the European circuit, planned to distribute 1 million euros. With the record number of entrants, the total prize pool was 2.9 million euros. In this case too, a Brazilian won the title: Pablo Silva pocketed 462,000 euros in the championship that ended in mid-April.
The Sunday Million won in March by amateur Alex de Sousa Brito almost doubled the prize pool in 2020, going from the historical average of 10 million to 18.6 million dollars. The champion that was born in São Paulo received US$1.19 million via international bank transfer and, in the way of the money to his account, the Federal Revenue took a bite of 27.5% of the amount won at the tables as taxes.
Source: Veja
