According to the CasinoCity reports the largest sites (traffic wise) are:
Casino Portals
1 Casino City
2 Casino.com
3 Casinomeister
4 Spele.nl
5 Las Vegas Advisor Online
6 Gambling.com
7 GoneGambling
8 Games and Casino
9 Gambling.co.uk
10 Casino Crush Online Gambling
Poker Portals
1 Card Player
2 Poker Listings
3 Internet Texas Holdem (ITH)
4 PokerPages.com
5 Poker News
6 Bonus Whores
7 Poker Source Online
8 Teamholdem
9 TexasHoldem-poker.com
10 pokerworks.com
Now , traffic does not always equal profit. But on the surface none of these portals look like they use cheap bulk traffic to bolster ratings.
If you notice, all of these sites are totally unique, and that is why they do well.
Imitations will never do that well.
And, if you imitate a site and you get too close, all your work will be for nothing because the owner will have you removed from business.
The best way to make it in this industry is to use your knowledge and your wishes and build what you would like to see and can’t find yet. That will make it to the top if you work on it and work on it and work on it some more. Took me over 5 years to get in the top ten.