Once the United States imposed stringent online gambling restrictions in the infamous Black Friday crackdown, the decline of online gambling and in particular online poker was inevitable.
Yet 2013 has changed all that with a number of states slowly passing bills that allow online poker to function in their respective states. Some of these include Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware. Nevada has led from the front and the response so far has been encouraging as online poker will bring in added income for these states.
Currently, there are very few popular online poker shows in the United States because the crackdown also ensured the death of poker television. Now, the media is once again looking to capture a market share in the online poker world with the very first Poker Night in America (PNIA) which is scheduled to be launched during 2014. This innovative “one-of-a-kind TV poker experience” has been designed by Todd Anderson, the co-founder of the Heartland Poker Tour that airs on Sunday evenings in the United States.
In a release, Anderson said
“We are looking to film the biggest and the best poker events at premier venues. We’re going to bring a fresh approach to how poker is shown on TV, making the show relevant to the average viewer. We think the world is ready to watch poker in a whole new way.”
The plan for Poker Night in America is to make it a unique show as the show will look to cover televised poker action. The show will look to cover a number of aspects of the poker world including storytelling, variety, player profiles and fun episodes that give the viewer entertainment at all times.
Anderson went on to say that :
“One week you might see a celebrity-filled poker game from a Hollywood mansion and the next week could feature a high stakes cash game between poker heavyweights like Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu. What you’ll always be able to count on is interesting story lines and variety. We’ll only be limited by our imagination.”
Anderson and his Rush Street productions will be responsible for putting together all episodes. The shooting starts early August as the first episode will cover the Empire State Poker Classic which is being hosted by the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York. Although the event is being filmed in August of 2013, the program is most likely to be aired during the first half of 2014.
