I use them as "gift tokens" for Coment funruns, have and am using them in a raffle and have used them as donations for other peoples contests.

i.e. https://steemit.com/contest/@jackmiller/win-win-win-every-relevant-comment-gets-50-pocket-tokens

Others have used them to pay for graphic designs, logos etc,
there is a "bookie" type of profile doing all the sports betting stuff with Pocket Tokens and so on.

They are being utilized.

The weekly reports by @pocket-pi go into all the details as far as stats and figures go.