I do follow it mostly because here in the US the supposedly "free," regulated legal
online poker is only in a few states and I want to be kept informed about multi-state merging player pools, or new sites coming online legally and regulated in my area. But I also keep up on it because I find it both absurd and disgraceful that we have legal sports betting and all kinds of online gambling (
slots, live dealers virtually) available in all 50 states; companies like FanDuel are predatory and exploitative. It bothers me a lot how pervasive gambling is pushed to people of all ages here, including minors under the guise of "sponsors and just for fun" and with streamers and internet personalities shilling this stuff to minors, to vulnerable people, lying about how they can easily win and how it's "fun." Not to mention how it's negatively changing the sports world, the gaming world, the casino world. And sure we're all gamblers here after all ,we play cards, but we should all be concerned not only how this lumps poker and skill games in with an increasingly negative, exploitative, and addictive system companies like FanDuel and DraftKings are pushing.
I learned recently where I live they're finally cracking down and removing the "skill based" video slots that have pervaded into everywhere from move theaters and malls to gas stations and convenience stores.
End of day I want to see more poker options available in regulated markets and less of this push of straight up luck based gambling . And sure I agree adults can and should be able to responsibly enjoy access to games like slots and sports betting, but we need to separate poker from this in some ways and also be advocates for responsible gambling.