Italy slots market begins to take shape
Local and foreign operators release first titles after receiving authorisations on Monday.
A number of operators have gone live with the first dot.it slots after Italian regulator AAMS “ now merged with the country’s Customs Authority “ issued the first authorisations for the product.
Microgaming-powered Prima Networks has been among the more active software providers, bringing online slots to 32Red, Betway and Neomobile. 32Red had only last month gone live with casino table games after receiving a dot.it licence earlier in the year, with CEO Ed Ware saying at the time: “We believe the market there provides a great opportunity for us to establish a new and regulated income stream for 32Red, especially with the imminent introduction of slots.”
Betway CEO Richard Akitt said: “The granting by AAMS for slots means that Betway is in a strong position to maximise potential from this market growth. Betway.it is one of a relatively small number of operators to be licensed to provide a full range of online gaming products in Italy.”
Meanwhile, mobile specialist Neomobile, in addition to its Prima slots, has agreed a B2B dot.it deal with Probability for mobile slots, building on its existing partnership with Probability-owned Playyoo.
A portion of its mobile slots offering comes through its Casino Planet brand, which will offer iPhone and iPad optimised slots.
Neomobile managing director Francesco Postiglione said: “We are very pleased to have got the green light for our online slots games from our regulator so soon and together with the big leading operators of the sector. We are convinced of the success of the Online Slots, as they have already been a great success in other markets including the UK.”
Another operator to go live is Greentube, which has launched a number of Novomatic slot titles through its Starvegas.it brand. Head of sales and marketing Tomislav Autischer said: “The Italian online gaming market is becoming increasingly exciting for Greentube as players’ spending continues to increase and the overall forecasts for 2013 look highly promising.”
Net Entertainment has also become one of the first movers on the software provider side, with Intralot Italia among the operators to go live with its dot.it titles.
Bruno Lener, director of Intralot Italia’s online business unit, explained: “We are really pleased with the launch of this new gaming offer that provides a fresh alternative in the Italian gaming market. The new games underline our commitment to keep our customers abreast of the most exciting gaming products”.
Others to go live within the first week of the Italian slots market opening are 888 and William Hill, with the latter taking a wide range of Playtech slots.