32Red goes live in Italy
Operator launches dot.it site less than a week before slots authorisations are issued.
Gibraltar-licensed egaming operator 32Red has gone live with its Italian offering, eight months after being awarded a licence by the country’s regulatory authority AAMS.
The launch, which had been scheduled for an unspecified date during the fourth quarter, comes less than one week before the first dot.it authorisations for online slots are issued to existing licensees.
At present the site contains roulette, blackjack and video poker, however slots are expected to follow once permitted by the regulator.
The launch comes less than two weeks after fellow Gibraltar licensee Probability was awarded an Italian licence. Both are expected to go live with online slots if approved on one of AAMS’ two designated dates of 3 December and 17 December.
32Red chief executive Ed Ware (pictured) was one of 14 egaming executives to sign an open letter to EC commissioner Michel Barnier urging action against those EU member states failing to comply with EU law, however the operator states that despite ongoing regulatory uncertainty on the continent “It hopes to apply for further licences in territories where a commercially viable model is introduced.”
Ware said of the Italian licence: “We are very pleased to be one of a relatively small number of online casino operators fully approved to trade in Italy.
“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. Our Italian team has been hand-picked and it is ready to extend our reach and excellent reputation into Italy,” he added.
Numis analyst Ivor Jones described the company’s success in Italy as “potentially transformational”.
“32Red’s small size is key to its potential in Italy,” he added. “It has demonstrated in the UK that it has all the necessary skills to thrive in a market dominated by larger competitors. We have no doubt it will effectively market a high quality product and service in Italy. And only a small market share in Italy would be potentially transformational for 32Red which had 40,000 active players in FY11.”