Highlights
- First Legal Global Player Pool: Virtue Poker launches Virtue Gaming in the USA using the innovative p2e model to create first legal global player pool in the world
- Connecting the US to the ROW for the First Time Since Black Friday: By combining Play-to-Earn users with real-money users in licensed jurisdictions to allow US players to compete against a global player pool for the first time in 15 years (since UIGEA)
- Solving the Broken Poker Economy: Virtue Gaming P2E creates a scalable acquisition tool for new players to ensure optimal liquidity on the network.
- Patent Pending: Virtue has submitted a patent on the model: patent application serial number is 17/520,788.
Poker has for decades been one of the most popular card games across the globe. The very nature of poker pins players against other players - creating one of the most exciting P2P games in existence. It creates a unique dynamic where an individual can win any hand at any time due to the use of the “bluff” - creating a thrilling game that people across the world have grown to love.
And while variance and chance are a component of the game - for decades it has been proven that good poker players beat bad players over time. Professional poker players exist for just that reason. Yet - it is possible for an amateur to win any poker event. Look no further than the 2003 World Series of Poker - which we have to thank for creating the enormous growth in interest in poker - especially within the United States.
As a reminder - the growth of online poker rooms exploded following the televised World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003, in which an unknown amateur poker player, an accountant named Chris Moneymaker, won $2.5 million after winning his entry in an $80 online satellite tournament.
Today - the online poker industry has grown to be a multi-billion dollar a year industry - dominated by a few large companies. And with that growth came scandal - such as the Full Tilt ponzi scheme, the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet insider hack among others.
Online Poker’s Murky Past in the USA
Online poker was famously regulated in 2006 by the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act.
However, many sites chose to operate in the US, and in 2011 on “Black Friday” the US Department of Justice shut down the top 3 operators: PokerStars, Full Tilt, Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet.
Since then, mostly illegal off-shore poker sites have operated in the US, and online poker has been in severe decline both in the US and globally due to the fragmented nature of the market due to regulation.
A Globally Fragmented Market
This fragmentation of the global online poker market has led to the domination of a few large operators due to the difficulty and prohibitively expensive cost to obtain licenses in multiple jurisdictions (it costs $10 million to receive a gaming license just in the state of Pennsylvania).
And with that - generally these large operators - many whom are publicly traded companies - have taken the approach to offer two entirely different online poker games to its customer base:
- Real-Money Gaming: Customers who live in jurisdictions where an operator has obtained a gaming license (or a market that an operator can legally access with no license). These customers deposit and can wager real-money against other players (e.g. PokerStars)
- Play Money Gaming: Customers who live in a black market or a jurisdiction where an operator does not have a license. These customers never deposit, and never withdrawal - and instead are provided with “play chips” that they can never withdraw and have no cash value (e.g. 44 out of 50 US states)
These player bases remain entirely separate - meaning they never can play against each other.
It’s also worth noting that even within real-money gaming, the “player pool” can be fragmented based on the licenses and the customer bases of an operator. For example, players on PokerStars in New Jersey, can not play players located in Canada or the UK.
Online Poker’s Decline
In order for sites to grow - players need to deposit more than they withdraw:
Deposits > (Rake + Withdrawals)
Generally - “good” online poker players have improved their skill - while recreational players have stopped depositing at high enough rates to sustain growth.
Without a global pool of players - the limited players on these fragmented networks created an imbalance of strong players against recreational players - leading many sites to decline over time.
Currently - winning players withdraw at a greater rate than recreational players deposit. Also - recreational players churn far more quickly than winning players - so the model requires a constant stream of recreational players to survive.
Online Poker Player Customer Profiles
There are two distinct customer profiles for online poker players - and their interests are very different:
A recreational player wants:
- Entertainment: They want to have a chance to win a large prize in a big tournament to have a “money-maker” like score
- Fair-play: A recreational player wants to ensure the games they play are fair, and want their deposits to last (they don’t want to lose all their money in a single day)
- A chance to win “big”
A professional player wants:
- To win money
- To play on software that is enjoyable while they grind for long hours
- To ensure their bankroll is secure
Most players will evaluate a poker site based purely on their EV (expected value). Professional players want to play on a site where they win the most money.
Unfortunately - within the current fragmented global online poker market, online professionals have had reduced win rates, and recreational players have reduced options to find a fair, entertaining poker site. And within the US, most players have no place to play besides on illegal off-shore sites.
Even with the US Gambling Market expected to grow to over $20 billion a year by 2027 - online poker's growth remains flat.
Using Play-to-Earn to Disrupt the Global Online Poker Market for the First Time in a Decade
Starting today, Virtue Gaming will use a play-to-earn model to connect US players to the rest of the world for the first time since Black Friday, creating the world’s first global legal poker player network.
Virtue Gaming does not require purchase from players, and player accounts are funded for free with the same tokens used on the Virtue Poker network. Players then are tasked with reaching a play-through requirement in order to claim real cash prizes.
Integrating Virtue Gaming into our existing Virtue Poker network allows these new play-to-earn players to immediately compete against our existing global network of 25,000 players on Virtue Poker.
We are uniquely positioned as we are the only company that now offers both a play-to-earn platform as well as a licensed real-money site within the blockchain industry.
As a reminder, Virtue Poker maintains the first-and-only blockchain based gaming license issued from the Malta Gaming Authority
The Virtue Gaming/Poker integrated player pool solves the broken poker economy by adding a new variable to this simple equation:
Play to Earn VPP Credits + Deposits > (Rake + Withdrawals)
Recreational players will now be able to compete for free to win large cash prizes, while professional players will be able to play on a network with more liquidity.
How it Works
Virtue Gaming is a free-to-play, play-to-earn no loss poker game:
Register: On Virtue Gaming USA, players receive 500 VPP for free upon-sign up.
Play: The players compete against other players in tournament and cash games - including players from Virtue Poker.
Complete Play-through: Players must reach a minimum amount of games played to be eligible to win prizes.
Claim Prize: Players who reach the minimum play requirement earn real cash prizes in USDT at the end of the promotional period (equivalent to their VPP balance value). Their balance will be burned, and they can try again in future promotions.
The play-through requirements can be found in the Cashier
But what about VPP Tokenomics?
There are several new updates Virtue is making to our tokenomics, (2) of which are outlined below:
Reducing VPP Supply
Virtue is introducing several token burning mechanisms to not only offset - but over time reduce the supply of circulating/total VPP
- When a P2E player completes play-through and claims their prize, their VPP will be burned
- Rake will be burned (% TBA)
- Plus, more to be announced
The introduction of VPP to P2E players is offset as:
- Winning player's VPP tokens are burned
- Losing player's will have their balanced returned to Virtue to be used for future P2E promotions
- P2E player who goes "bust" can only have their tokens go to the following places:
A winning P2E player (therefore burned)
Rake (burned)
A Virtue Poker player (partially burned through rake)
Regardless - by introducing a burning mechanism on Virtue - we've created a structure where as the platform scales, the overall supply of VPP will decrease.
And Virtue Gaming will drive an increase in platform usage as it creates more liquidity and incentives for Virtue Poker players.
Higher Staking Rewards
Virtue Gaming's P2E model is a tool to grow the overall network. More players creates more volume, which creates higher staking rewards for Justice Nodes.
Through a combination of higher staking rewards and lower overall supply the incentives to stake and earn rewards will grow.
Our team is building and launching a public Justice Staking dashboard that allows the community to see daily rake, and rewards per Justice node.
And most importantly - we will be opening up staking to all (non-US) VPP holders starting next year.
Our team will publish more information on the exact tokenomics in a subsequent dedicated post on VPP tokens.
Conclusion
The integration of real-money poker with free-to-play play-to-earn poker will change the game we’ve come to know and love forever. For the first time - we will offer a global player pool - and product that addresses the desires of both consumer bases of poker (recreational players and professional players)
Our team has personally been waiting for over 6 years to launch our software in the United States and around the globe in a legal and sustainable fashion. We are pleased to finally be able to bring our product and services to the US market.
Stay tuned - there will be more detail regarding the gamification of play-to-earn and more prizes with our new partners coming soon.