888 launches live roulette in Spain
Operator partners with Evolution to become first to launch live product in eight-month old market.
888 has become the first operator in Spain to launch a live roulette product in the eight-month old market less than a week after receiving the relevant approval.
Launched alongside live casino specialist Evolution Gaming the operator broadcasts from its software partner’s live roulette studio at Casino Rincon de Pepe in Murcia.
The product is now live at 888’s dot.es site, is hosted by native Spanish dealers and streams live games 16 hours a day, seven days a week, to local online players in the newly regulated market.
Last week 888 was awarded a licence to operate a live roulette offering in Spain by the country’s regulatory authority the Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ).
Since the first dot.es poker licences were issued last June, casino, compared to poker, has been a relatively competitive vertical, with four operators claiming 70% of the market. 888 has found itself out in front followed by bwin, Gamesys’ Botemania bingo brand and bet365, according to recent figures from the Spanish regulator announced in November last year.
Poker networks including Ongame and Microgaming however, aside from large international standalone and multi-product brands such as PokerStars and 888 that have dedicated large marketing budgets to the game following regulation in June last year, have struggled to build up the liquidity required to remain competitive in Spain.
à land-based operator Paf yesterday said it would “temporarily close” its Spanish-facing poker offering due to low player numbers on the Ongame.es network. A statement on the operator’s dot.es site confirmed eGR’s previous reports that a number of smaller poker operators were considering either handing back their poker licences or pulling out of the vertical altogether.
“Our goal is to provide Paf the best experience possible, which enjoy playing with friends. And in poker today, we were not fulfilling this objective because the network does not have a sufficient number of players,” the statement said.
The liquidity issues faced by the likes of Paf could be tackled by the pooling of liquidity across European markets, something which has been suggested by regulators in Spain, France and Italy but which is yet to come into force.
Last month Spain’s gambling regulator responded to criticism that its newly regulated online poker market has failed due to PokerStars’ dominance and told eGR he is “unconcerned” about whether the market is competitive or not.
Enrique Alejo, general director at the DGOJ told eGR the Spanish online poker market is “taking its own course” and that as long as operators respect the laws, it will not intervene.
The regulator is currently consulting operators on whether or not to licence exchange betting and crucially slot games, a move which could substantially boost a number of companies’ fortunes and market share there.
On today’s 888-Evolution announcement Yuval Benyamini, VP regulated markets at 888 said: “We were very keen to gain first-to- market advantage and Evolution has enabled us to achieve that goal with a world-class, localised Live Roulette product that is a great fit for our brand.”
Sebastian Johannisson, head of account management at Evolution, added: “It is well know that Evolution is fully committed to helping operators achieve first-to-market advantage in newly regulated markets. It’s fantastic that we have achieved this for 888 in Spain. Together we are delivering a world-class, fully locally compliant service that is immediately broadening 888’s revenue base in a young and exciting market.”