What The Demise of Full Tilt Poker Really means for the Future of Online Poker

Gambling is great. Gambling is fun. Gambling is harmless…until it hurts someone. In the case of Full Tilt poker, there were thousands of players that were affected by their actions. They scammed players out of their money and they were deceptive in just about every way imaginable. That’s going to upset the poker field, as well as gambling in general.

Online gambling is a tricky thing as it is, with plenty of skeptics. There are some people that believe there’s no such thing as responsible, harmless gambling. It’s hard to make the case for such a thing when you get reports of a major casino, a very well known casino, playing fast and loose with player’s trust.

But that leaves the question open: what does the demise of FTP really mean for the future of online poker? Believe it or not, it’s really not all doom and gloom. There’s some sunshine here, and we think that the poker industry is missing out on it.

First off, it’s a big wake up call that strict accounting is a must, and internal auditing is a must. We have to make sure that companies are doing what they say they are doing with the money that they collect. With so much money just floating around, it can be a temptation for misuse. A company is going to have to have its player’s best interests in mind. Right now, there’s going to be a lot of damage control as casino owners make sure that heir own customer base doesn’t start distrusting them. We’ve even seen a few press releases touching on this topic over the last few months, especially as 2011 wound down to a close.

Are we telling you not to ever play online poker ever again? Not at all. We have always said for the longest that anything can happen, and you need to make sure that you cover your risks. You will need to withdraw your money regularly, and continue to play only where you really do feel safe. Is that going to be harder and harder to figure out as time goes on? Sure it will — you will always have a level of uneasiness around the subject.

Yet life is about living it, not living in fear. You should never gamble so much that you’re worried about losing the whole thing and then not being able to take care of the things in your life that really matter. It hurts to lose $500 or $1000 or even higher amounts, but it’s sometimes the way things go.

FTP is going to have a lot to answer to over the next few months, but the rest of the gambling world will march on. Bets will still be placed, and fish will still get eaten. The poker ocean is filled with opportunities to swim, hunt, eat, and enjoy life. We suggest that you continue to find good casinos, bond with other players, and pretty much stay on top of as much industry news as you can. You can often see the “writing” on the wall so to speak before the really bad stuff happens. And if you do have suspicions about a casino, it’s important to make sure that you withdraw your money right away and avoid depositing more until you can get an idea of what’s really going on behind the scenes.