If one judges the health of the game of poker by the number of players who enter the $10,000 buy-in World Series of Poker Main Event, then poker is now the healthiest it’s been at any time since political machinations stymied its growth 16 years ago.

The 2022 Main Event attracted 8,663 participants, the second-largest field in the 50-year-plus history of the tournament. That tally falls 110 players shy of the record of 8,773 set in 2006 – the final year before Congress attached the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act at the 11th hour to unrelated must-pass port security legislation. The act limited access to online poker and ended what had been exponential yearly growth.