Ongame launches cash poker in Italy
As Italy opens up new licences dot.it sites of Bwin and Gioco Digitale introduce cash poker, alongside fellow licensees Party Poker, Pokerstars and iPoker.
The Ongame network has become one of the first providers to offer cash poker to Italian players, just hours after the country’s cash game decree came into force last night.
Following the launch, network members bwin and GDPoker (Gioco Digitale) are the first to add the cash variant to their tournament poker offering, which was launched by Ongame in 2008.
Ongame CEO Peter Bertilsson told eGaming Review the network intends to roll out cash poker with other network partners “as soon as we can”, with August the projected date for more sites to join Bwin and Gioco Digitale in providing cash games on the Ongame network.
Bertilsson said it was too early to make predictions about the impact on the network’s Italian market share “ which currently places it fifth of the six operators or networks in the country “ saying “we will have to see what the competition is like once everyone is up and running.”
The news follows last week’s announcement that William Hill was named among the first wave of licensees for casino, the other product legalised in Italy this February.
bwin.party’s southern regional director Paolo di Feo, former general director of Gioco Digitale, said he was “delighted” that Ongame was one of the first-movers into this “exciting new segment of the Italian market.”
Ongame’s Italian-facing network had previously ranked fifth for tournament traffic in the country, according to figures from Pokerscout, with its seven-day average at the time of writing sitting at 1,316 players.
The number of active players is expected to increase with the legalisation of cash games. According to March data from H2 Gambling Capital, the average number of players seated at cash tables is 32% higher than the average number at tournament tables.
Others given the green light to begin offering cash poker in Italy include Pokerstars and Playtech’s iPoker network, both of whom had been averaging more than 2,000 tournament players on their dot.it platforms before today.
Microgame’s People’s Network and Boss Media’s International Network are yet to issue statements about cash poker.
Party Poker also received a licence, although its poker offering will remain on the same platform as bwin and Gioco until the sale of Ongame is completed.