Exclusive: Operators prepare to hand back Spanish licences
Companies have quickly become disillusioned with little or no liquidity on poker networks.
A number of poker operators are set to hand back their Spanish online poker licences just six months after entering the market, eGaming Review has learned.
According to sources, a number of operators sitting on Ongame and Microgaming’s local poker networks including Malta-licensed sports betting site Goalwin have consulted with lawyers in order to instigate the process of rescinding their Spanish licences and will do so “within the next few months”.
Goalwin, along with Finnish operator Paf, make up the Ongame network, while local land-based gambling group Cirsa, Betsson’s Gunnersgaming brand, Ladbrokes’ Spanish brand LBapuestas and Belgium’s Win2Day form part of Microgaming’s network.
Paf’s head of poker, Herbert Paradis, admitted it is “constantly evaluating” its strategy but claimed it was not considering exiting the market despite attracting little or no liquidity on its Spanish-facing poker offering.
“We have been assured there will be more partners joining Ongame so we will see who joins and what affect that has on liquidity,” he told eGR. “We want a poker product in Spain but at some point you have to say ‘there is not going to be enough liquidity’.”
Despite attracting the likes of Paf and Goalwin to its network, Ongame sits at the bottom of the pile with a seven-day average of just two, while the Microgaming network has 26. Above them, Spielo G2’s network and Playech’s iPoker, which includes Bet365, William Hill and Betfair, are fairing marginally better with 44 and 107 seven-day averages respectively.
Spain enacted its egaming regulations in June last year, with 53 operators “ both local and foreign “ securing 10-year licences to operate sports betting, poker, casino and/or bingo in the dot.es market by Spanish regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ).
But, much like the sports betting market in which bet365, bwin and Sportingbet have quickly claimed leading market share “ the Spanish online poker market has since been dominated by PokerStars with 888 a distant second place. According to Pokerscout data, PokerStars is the clear market leader, boasting seven-day average player numbers of 1,860, while 888 has approximately 500.
While one source described the Spanish poker market as a “catastrophe”, another, who preferred not to be named, told eGR: “Operators have invested a lot of money in getting a licence and advertising in order to recruit players. But once those players are signed up they soon realise there is zero liquidity. Everyone is disappointed how Ongame and Microgaming are doing and really there is no point investing in a poker room right now.”
Each licensee is thought to have invested around 60,000 in licence fees and certifications alone “ money they are resigned to losing “ along with a bank of guarantee of 2m required by the regulator.
Despite DGOJ forbidding operators from transferring players’ dot.com data and balances to the newly-licensed dot.es sites, the timing of the regulator’s announcement and lack of enforcement meant both Stars and 888 were able to migrate their player databases and invest heavily in advertising to ensure market share.
The provision was introduced just 14 hours before licences were issued and just four days before the market went live, and by then most operators had already completed the transfer of data.
The news mirrors France’s poker market where number of poker operators have returned their licences “ the most recent being 888 which returned its dot.fr licence in December “ due to strict regulatory terms and high tax rate.