A couple of days ago, GGPoker published data revealing some of the most interesting numbers from 2023, and even a quick glance tells a story about yet another great year for the operator.
Over the last few years, GGPoker has gone from strength to strength, becoming the leading online poker operator in the global market and staying far ahead of the competition. In 2023, the site reached several big landmarks, underscoring its impressive growth curve.
The operator has seen progress in almost every relevant category compared to 2022, including the total number of hands dealt on the platform and the total amount of prize money awarded.
GGPoker in 2023: Key Figures
- $3.01 Billion: Total tournament prize money paid out, a 10% increase from 2022.
- 3.8 Billion: Total hands dealt, more in tournaments (1.92 Billion) than cash games for the first time.
- 50%: Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2021 to 2023.
- 9050: Concurrent cash game seats by 2023, a 67% growth since 2021.
- $361 Million: Total in free giveaways and promotions.
- 41: WSOP bracelets awarded in the dot-com and Ontario market.
- $2.78 Million: Biggest tournament first-place prize.
- $602.5k: Largest cash game pot won.
- Or get up to $100 worth of rewards
- Available in many regulated markets
- Great MTT schedule including WSOP events
Almost Four Billion Hands Played
One number that truly tells the story about the sheer volume of action at GGPoker is the total number of hands played on the platform. In 2023, the platform dealt out over 3.8 billion hands across the board.
What is really interesting about this number is that it splits almost equally between cash games and tournaments. In fact, it was a bit of a surprise to see that the number of tournament hands (1.92 billion) was greater than the number of cash hands dealt (1.88 billion).
To put things into perspective, this means that during 2023, GGPoker was dealing around 120 hands of poker every single second and over 10 million hands a day. These are truly impressive numbers give us a better idea of just how big the platform is and the kind of traffic it deals with on a daily basis.
What About Prizes & Accolades?
While the number of hands dealt is impressive, it is the kind of thing that is more interesting to industry insiders. What players want to know about is how much money was won on the site. And those numbers are equally as stunning.
In 2023, GGPoker awarded $3.01 billion in tournament prize money, a significant increase over $2.55 billion awarded in 2022. In doing so, the operator created 231 millionaires. Interestingly enough, this is one of the few stats in decline: as there were 316 million+ winners in 2022 and 277 in 2021.
The biggest win in a single tournament was $2.78 million, which went to the winner of the $5k WSOP Online Main Event. When it comes to cash games, the largest recorded pot took place at $200/$400 PLO tables, and it was just over $600k.
While $600,000 is a big number, this was actually the smallest number in the past three years. In 2022, the largest cash game pot took place at $500/$1,000/$2,000 NLHE tables and it amounted to $1.5 million, which might suggest that the action at the highest of stakes has dropped of a bit.
On the other hand, when it comes to WSOP Online, 2023 was also the richest year in GGPoker history, with players winning 41 gold bracelets and 72 WSOPC rings.
A part of what GGPoker was able to achieve can probably be attributed to their willingness to give money back to the players through various promotions. Last year, that number was 361 million, a massive increase over $232 million in 2021 and significant growth compared to $318 million in 2022.
What 2024 Has in Store for GGPoker?
Over the last few years, GGPoker has demonstrated it has everything required to be one of the industry leaders. Although 2024 has not started on the best note, with details of a cheating scandal emerging, the operator was fairly quick to react and it does not seem this will be a major obstacle in company’s future plans.
It will be interesting to see what GGPoker has in store for 2024 and if there are any surprises the operator has up its sleeve. As things stand right now, there is no reason to think the growth will not continue, as interest in poker is as strong as ever, and GGPoker, together with PokerStars, is usually one of the first picks for those deciding to test their skills in online streets.
