Unless you're a dedicated industry watcher, you might think that the only thing going on in the online gaming business these days is the continuing (never-ending?) boom of internet poker. It's true, poker continues to be hotter than anyone would have guessed, but that's not all that's happening. Here's a "state of the union" look at things for fall 2006.

Big bonuses are back! In the last few months, casino bonuses have been on the upswing once again: 100 percent match-deposit bonuses are everywhere and many casinos are throwing in "thank you" bonuses on top of that. Another big shift has been toward higher bonus values. A year of so ago, it wasn't unusual to see your bonus capped at $50 of $100, but a quickie survey turned up many bonuses in the $500 range and even as high as $888. Three guesses why you might find the latter.

Online gaming appears to be following the land based casino industry down the mergers path. In the last few years we've seen the big Harrah’s-Caesar and Mandalay-MGM deals that are re-shaping the brick-and-mortar casino business. The recent PartyGaming purchase of Gamebookers and their competing bid with 888.com for the UK-based Victor Chandler group could be just as important to the future of internet casinos. Although both companies are now said to have withdrawn from the Victor Chandler sale, the point remains that consolidation in the internet casino industry is upon us. One of the reasons to expect this to continue is that the big online gaming brands want to gain access to non-U.S. players.

As mentioned Poker continues to steamroll forward. Most of the big things we've seen happen in the U.S. over the last couple years—Poker TV, big-buck tournaments, etc—are now happening across Europe too. Although the money involved is generally not astronomical, as is often the case with U.S.-based poker tournaments, that's pretty much to be expected because the active player base is smaller too.

One of the most significant things on the Poker scene is the sudden appearance and rise of the Poker Players Alliance. It's a grass roots movement spearheaded by Michael Bolcerek who, with assistance from some big names in the poker scene such as Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Howard Lederer, and Greg Raymer, has managed to gather 20,000-plus members together for phone and letter campaigns targeted at the U.S. senators that would have to approve any proposed anti-gaming legislation. If you play poker online the PPA's goal is to protect your right to continue to do so.

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