Winamax launches freeplay online poker site
Site available to US residents and available on iOS and Android platforms.
Winamax has launched a freeplay poker site available to US residents, with a view to offering customers a real-money product if and when the French operator secures a US online poker licence.
The site is available for download on iOS and Android, while a Facebook app was released in April. Although no money can be deposited, it allows players to win ‘wams’ which can be used as a stake to enter tournaments which offer real-money prizes.
A statement on the Winamax website reads: “Because real money poker is currently not authorized in the United States, we have put together a play money offer designed to encourage real poker play and offer an experience as close to the real thing as possible. Should online real money poker ever become legal in your area, we may be opening up our real money rooms to players, and you would be able to enjoy the full online poker experience.”
eGR exclusively revealed Winamax’s US plans in April, when CEO Canel Frichet (pictured) said: “The fiscal and regulatory structure is so complex in France that we feel that we would know how to navigate any American model, either interstate or federal.” She also told eGR that Winamax was looking for US partners.
Winamax’s poker software is among those available on Bally’s iGaming Platform, and has been used by Golden Nugget for the freeplay poker offering which it launched in June. Golden Nugget was last week recommended for a Nevada online poker licence along with Fertitta Interactive and Boyd Interactive Gaming, and will see its application go before the Nevada Gaming Commission later this month.
Any potential move into the US market would be the operator’s first outside France, where it overtook PokerStars in January to become the leading operator for cash-game traffic.