Poll results: Liquidity sharing in Europe needed
eGR readers believe liquidity sharing is a must if the European online poker market is to prosper in the long-term
The regulated online poker sector in Europe will not survive unless cross-border liquidity sharing is introduced, eGaming Review readers have said.
Since the early success of the dot.it poker market in Italy, the European regulated poker sector has seen its stock fall with ring-fenced markets such as those in Spain and France struggling to be competitive and causing some operators to withdraw from the market.
Last week, Barrière Poker became the latest operator to react to dwindling player numbers after it announced the closure of its French poker room citing a “degradation” of the local market.
As such, in this week’s poll eGR asked if regulated online poker was doomed without liquidity sharing?
The majority of respondents (52%) said that the online poker sector will fail unless liquidity sharing is introduced to the continent.
The new president of Spain’s regulatory body, Carlos Hernandez, agrees and recently revealed his intention is to introduce international liquidity to the Spanish online poker market by the middle of next year.
The Spanish market is dominated by PokerStars with 888 the only other operator with any reasonable liquidity. In June, the Amaya-owned Ongame poker network confirmed it had shut down its dot.es poker network and returned its licence due to the levels of liquidity.
Just under a quarter of respondents (24%) were of the opinion that large territories such as Germany and Italy didn’t require the introduction of cross-border shared liquidity.
Despite this view, the Italian regulators have previously discussed the concept of liquidity sharing with its Spanish counterparts and this is thought to be a real possibility within the next 12-24 months.
Meanwhile, only 10% of respondents felt the status-quo worked and no changes needed to be made, while 14% said the current system functioned fine but only for a select few operators.