Top 10 Countries Where Poker is Popular

Have you ever wondered where poker is popular? In which countries the poker is played the most? I HAVE TOO. So, I thought I would do some research for the same and came up with the top 10 countries where poker is popular.

Now you might ask me on what basis I came to the conclusion? Well, I used some Search tools to look at the popularity of the searches of the term “POKER“. Now, this data might not be accurate, as there are no tools out there that tell us the proper search volume of a particular term. This is the reason I did some further research using Google Trends. I looked at the countries where poker is most trending over a period of 10 years. And I also looked at the heat map for countries where poker is popular.

Now, just on the basis of search results and the trend of Poker in countries I couldn’t come to the conclusion. I also made a note on the total number of casinos in these countries to make a fair assessment.

So, in short, I came to the conclusion of the top countries where poker is popular on the basis of these:

Search volume of the word “Poker” in Google.
See the Google Trends for the game “Poker” over a period of 10 years.
Took a look at the “Heat Map” for countries where poker is popular.
The total number of “Casinos“ built in these countries.

Now, let us take a look at the heat map and check out the top countries where Poker is popular.

Table of Contents

Heat Map for the countries where poker is popular

This is the heat map for the game Poker all over the world. The darker Blue indicates the countries where poker is more popular than in other countries. It is difficult to conclude from this by just seeing the image. But, you can get a fair idea when you use the tool for yourself. Go check out in Google Trends for yourself to get a better understanding.

Now, from the heat map Indonesia, United States, Canada, Russia, and Brazil seems to be the top 5 countries where poker is popular.

I’ll just share the Google Trends for the game Poker over 10 years.

From the above image, we can see that poker popularity is decreasing over time. But, over the last three years, it has been constant and the trend seems to continue in the future.

Ok now, that you guys have seen the Heat map and the Trend of poker over the last 10 years, let us take a look at the Top 10 Countries Where Poker is Popular.

Top 10 Countries Where Poker is Popular are as follows:

1. United States

The United States stands first in the list of the most popular countries where poker is popular. This is no surprise, to be honest. Poker is played everywhere in the US and most of the top poker players are from the US.

Here are some stats to show why the United States is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

The average number of poker searches over the last year is 246,000/mo. This is the most searched term by any countries in the world. The graph above shows us that the highest search was in October last year. But, it still has a healthy amount of search results in Google.
Total Number of Casinos in the United States is 460. This is the most in any countries as well. Las Vegas alone has 107 Casinos. These are all licensed Casinos. God knows how many non-licensed casinos are there in the US. Now, it is noted that having more casinos doesn’t mean all the people play poker over there. But, based on the searches, poker is the most played game in a casino in the US.
Also, huge number of people play poker online in the US. More than 100,000 people search online for the term “Online Poker“. This tells us that a lot of players play poker online in the US.

On the basis of these numbers, The United States is one of the top countries where Poker is popular.

2. Indonesia

Poker is super popular in Indonesia. Indonesia is a small country, but poker is super popular over there. There are not many professional poker players from Indonesia. But, that doesn’t mean it is not popular.

Here are some stats to show why poker is so popular in Indonesia.

The average number of poker searches over the last year is 201,000/mo. For a small country, a lot of people search Poker in Indonesia. The highest search results show’s in last Oct where the number went over 300,000. That is more than the United States. But, the average searches over the last year is less compared to the US.
Gambling is considered as illegal in Indonesia. Therefore there are no legal casinos over there.
The number of players searching for the term “Online Poker” is huge in Indonesia. Since there are no legal casinos in Indonesia, most of the people play online there. Research suggests that there are over 4000 online poker sites in Indonesia. This is the most in any countries by far.

All these stats suggest that Indonesia stands second in the list of countries where poker is popular.

3. Brazil

It was hard to decide between Brazil and Indonesia of who was supposed to be in position for number two. Both Brazil and Indonesia have similar search traffic. Also, Brazil has casinos in their country. So, it was a hard choice. But, I feel poker is more popular in Indonesia than Brazil.

Here are some stats to show why Brazil is one of the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

The number of search results suggests that it has an average of 135,000/mo. Poker is the top topics that is discussed in Brazil along with football. There is a huge craze for poker in Brazil. In fact more than 60% of the population there are into Poker. This is an amazing stat to look at.
The number of casinos in Brazil is around 10. These ten casinos are the legalized casinos. A lot of people visit casinos just to play poker in Brazil. The number of casinos might not be more, but the casinos present are always jam-packed.
In Brazil, Online poker is played more than people visiting casinos. The reason is of less number of casinos that are available. Even though online gambling is illegal in Brazil, 4 billion of revenue is generated through it.

All these stats suggest that Brazil stands third in the list of countries where poker is popular.

4. Canada

There are a lot of people that play poker in Canada. It is legal to play both online and casino poker in Canada. There is a huge number of casinos in Canada where the majority of people play poker. Also, a lot of poker pros are from Canada.

Here are some stats to show why poker is so popular in Canada.

The poker search results in Google doesn’t make justification for the popularity of the game. Even though the number show around 41,000/mo, the actual search results are much more than this. The reason it is less is that it doesn’t include Canada ( Spain). That is the Spanish talking people living in Canada. The actual search results go above 85,000/mo.
As I mentioned earlier, there is a huge number of casinos in Canada. There is a total of 219 casinos in Canada. This might be another reason for the lesser number of search results.
Online Poker in Canada is completely legal and a lot of players play online. There are a lot of big poker players from Canada that earn a lot from Online Poker.

All these stats suggest that Canada stands fourth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

5. Malaysia

Malaysia gained popularity in poker over the recent 5 years. And it has picked up in big time. Now there are two sets of people in Malaysia. The Muslims and the non-Muslims. Muslims is against playing gambling games and is a sin for them to play poker. But, the other group of people is ruled to play gambling games. They even have two sets of gambling law for the same reason.

Here are some stats to show why poker is so popular in Malaysia.

You can see why poker is so popular in Malaysia. There has been no change in the search results over the last year. A total of 91,000/mo searches are being googled by people. Now, take into consideration that only half of the people in Malaysia play poker due to their religion. But still, the search results are good.
There is only one Casino in Malaysia. It’s located at the Genting Highlands. But the casino doesn’t have live poker tables. All it has is poker tables that you play with the dealer. There is no dedicated poker table to play poker with other players. But, still, a lot of people visit the casino to play in-house poker.
Since there is only one casino and it doesn’t have the live poker tables, people in Malaysia play poker online. There are a few poker sites that allow playing online and is legal. So, most of the people there play poker online.

All these stats suggest that Malaysia stands fifth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

Note: The search volume of poker is much more in Malaysia than in Canada. But just because of the number of casinos in Canada is more, I am ranking Malaysia to the fifth position.

6. France

France is a beautiful country with lots of poker enthusiasts. A lot of good poker players have been produced from France. The leading Parisian Poker salon Aviation Club de France conducts the World Poker Tour tournament and each year the number of player doubles the past records. This alone tells us how popular poker is becoming in France.

Here are some stats to show why poker is so popular in Malaysia.

You can see that an average of about 75,000/mo Searches is made in Google for the term Poker in France. The number is increasing drastically year by year. A lot of people have started to play poker over there.
The number of casinos in France is huge. There are a total of 160 state-licensed casinos in France. Therefore a lot of people visit casinos to play poker.
Even online poker is completely legal and a lot of players play poker online in France.

All these stats suggest that France stands Sixth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

7. The United Kingdom

There has been a lot of talks recently about poker being the trending topic in the UK. And it is true. A lot of people have started to play poker and the popularity is increasing exponentially.

Here are some stats to show why The UK is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

You can see the number of searches of the term Poker is about 70,000 /mo on an average. I am pretty sure the curve is only going to increase from year by year.
The total number of casinos in the UK is about 158. All these 158 casinos are completely legal and offer live poker tables in them. This is also one of the reasons why a lot of people prefer to play poker in casinos and this directly reflects the search results.
Playing poker online is completely legal too in the UK. But, as I said before, a lot of players prefer to play poker in Casinos.

All these stats suggest that the UK stands seventh in the list of countries where poker is popular.

8. Italy

Italy is a country that has legalized gambling for both online and for casinos. You can play poker in Italy without worrying anything. The only worrying factor is that the taxes are pretty high in Italy and you lose a lot of your winnings as taxes.

Here are some stats to show why Italy is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

The search results show that the poker search results have taken a dip in volume. But the average search results show us that it is still at 75,000 m/0 searches on Google.
As there is no problem running a casino, there are plenty of casinos in Italy. It has a total of 36 casinos in the whole country. That is a decent amount of casinos to play poker. And there are live poker tables in almost all the casinos in Italy.
Since online gambling is legal too, a lot of players play poker online. There are plenty of poker sites that offer a good platform to play poker in Italy.

All these stats suggest that Italy stands eighth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

9. India

In India Poker is picking up nicely. Over the last 5 years, more and more people are playing poker. In fact, if I would consider Teen Patti in the search engine, then India would be at the top of the list. More than 1 Million searches happen for the game Teen Patti. This is more than any countries that I mentioned.

Here are some stats to show why India is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

I have to rank the countries based on the number of searches of the game “Poker”. And hence I am ranking it as 1oth in the popularity. It gets an average of 60,500 M/o searches in Google. This is going to increase exponentially and I am sure it is going to be the most popular countries where poker is popular soon.
There have been some legal issues for the casinos in India. As of now, it is illegal to run casinos in Land. Therefore, the casinos are built in Ships and cruise in the ocean. There are around 15 casinos in India. Most of them are located at Goa.
The number of online sites to play poker has been increasing in India. Since it is legal to play online gambling, a lot of people play poker online in India.

All these stats suggest that India stands ninth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

10. Germany

Germany is a country with plenty of poker pros. A lot of players have been successful recently. It is also a country where online poker is banned. So, the only source of playing poker is from Casinos.

Here are some stats to show why Germany is the top Countries Where Poker is Popular.

About 68,000 m/0 searches for the term Poker in Germany. This is a pretty decent number. Also, in Germany poker is more played in Casinos than online. Hence the number is a bit low.
There are about 20 Casinos in Germany which are legal. You can play live poker in all the casinos in Germany. Hence, a lot of people visit casinos to play poker.
Online Poker is banned in Germany. It is illegal to play any gambling games online. This is the reason, I am ranking it so low.

All these stats suggest that Germany stands tenth in the list of countries where poker is popular.

Some of the other Countries where Poker is Popular

Russia

A lot of people believe that Russia should be in the top 3 of the list of most popular countries where poker is played. And they are rightfully so. The only reason I am not mentioning is that I don’t have the data with me to support the same. There are said be around 4,000 casinos in Russia. But, in recent times only 5 states permit gambling and most of the casinos are shut down. This is also one of the reasons I haven’t mentioned Russia to be in the top 3.

Mexico

Poker is pretty famous in Mexico and a lot of people play poker over there. There are about 208 casinos in Mexico. But most of them are famous for other games than poker.

China

China is another county where poker is gaining popularity. I don’t have the data with me to support china now since in China Google is banned and they use their own browser. Being the most populated county in the world suggest that poker is also played a lot over there. Hence this is also a county where poker is popular.

Romania

Poker has gained popularity recently in Romania. I don’t have much data to prove this, but in another 2-3 years, poker will be a trending topic in Romania. There are about 9 casinos in Romania.

Columbia

Columbia is another country where poker is popular. There are about 15 legal casinos in Columbia. Also, online poker is completely legal in Columbia.

Philippines

This is the last country that I want to mention where poker is pretty famous and is gaining a lot of popularity. There are about 18 casinos in the Philippines.

These were the top countries where Poker is Popular. Hope you learned something. Thanks for reading. Leave a comment on which country you live and where do you think poker is popular. 😉

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rohithebbar

I am the owner of the site rohithebbar.com. I love playing poker and other card games.