[Tantalus747]

Bodog is still privately owned (I think, I've only played stars the past year) and controlled, so I doubt they get bought unless they get a very nice offer. Though if the LV giants sense weakness they will probably try to beat them up enough to try to lowball them. I don't know enough about their balance sheets to say. Part of that story will depend on if sports betting is opened up online along with poker. With the WTO on Washington's back I see that being likely, which will make Bodog a far more attractive target. First with buyout offers then with aggressive moves on their market share if denied (think bodog type sexy ads but from the Vegas corps with far more to spend.) We're talking mega bucks into ads once this thing opens up. Unless they restrict it ala liquor ads I see poker ads not just on poker shows but on primetime & maybe even some of those multi-millions superbowl spots. Think about what a way that would be for a newly legal industry to say to the mainstream world, "we're here, we're legit, safe, and not going away!"

I don't know the numbers, but my impression is that absolute has lost ground to stars and fulltilt in the past year. I havn't followed what happened to the cheating scandal over there a few weeks back, but that doesn't seem to have gotten as much traction as I feared it might (b/c it would hurt the entire industry, not just them.)

Alot will depend on how many casinos will want into the market if they feel they can compete.

I'm particularly interested in LV Sands and what they'll do. They've recently made massive investments in Macau. It will be interesting to see with more computerized tables if they'll think to limk them to Macau players. Or Harrah's... imagine a WSOP played live but linked on computerized tables around the globe. Now nothing like this will happen for years... I'm taking the long view here, but imagine trouney fields around the globe in the 10's of thousands. The cards would keep flying as the sun set & rose somewhere else. If this sounds crazy, well casino are already beggining to get the tables and it's the only way live fields can grow; and if you run a massive corp like LV Sands or Harrah's you're always looking for the next growth opportunity, they don't come often for corps that big.