Fact remains when Lust was community manager he continually disparaged, belittled and demeaned every attempt by North Americans to organize events. He refused to grant equal status to North Americans and steadfastly refused to help organize tournaments in North America. Even now we see the European Scramble League has its own Child board while the American Scramble league is limited to one thread.
Are there differences in the number of participants? Yes, and the fault lays solely with TW for allowing Lust and his corrupt ways to persist for so long. The ways the game was marketed in NA were deplorable.
Edit: Apologies to the King for hijacking his thread. Sorry.