It wasn’t long ago that commercials for online poker dominated the airwaves. If you flipped on ESPN, you were met with ads for Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, Ultimate Bet, Absolute Poker and of course the crappiest one of them all, Party Poker.
Party Poker was one of the most popular poker sites out of the gate, but it was soon surpassed as its competitors developed better programming, recruited star players and deployed better advertising campaigns.
To refresh your memory, here’s one of Party Poker’s old ads. This one wasn’t bad at first, but it was infuriating after the 50th+ time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sxiLPFLfSw
An even worse example.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1vOfFLHCFs
That awful Party Poker song at the end might still haunt your dreams. Considering that Party Poker believed in quantity over quality and as a result they spammed these ads out everywhere they could, it’s highly likely that most of you out there still know that dreadful Party Poker tune.
Now, online poker commercials are almost extinct. There are a handful of ones out there promoting free sites, but they don’t spend a ton on advertising unless you’re actually watching a poker show. The ban on online poker in most U.S. states crippled the market, but there still exists a decent following on some of the top sportsbooks. The books don’t advertise on television much, or ever, but it seems like the days of online poker and online gambling may be resurrected in the near future. As soon as everyone realizes that regulated online gaming equals hefty tax revenue, we may start seeing awful ads like Party Poker’s above back on television.
