Finland and Austria have agreed to share online poker liquidity in an industry-first deal between two of their leading gambling operators. Liquidity will be shared on Playtech’s iPoker network that powers both Finland’s Slot Machine Association – RAY, and Austria’s win2day brand.
Under their agreement, the two brands are set to go live with a joint online poker network and to share liquidity from their player pools. The deal was given the nod by the Finnish Ministry of Interior after win2day had ensured that it would be able to meet responsibility standards posed by RAY.
As mentioned above, Playtech has been powering both operators’ online poker networks for several years now. RAY has been working with the major omni-channel gambling provider since 2010. As for win2day, it opted for Playtech’s iPoker software back in 2015. The provider and its online poker network have been providing the Austrian Lotteries and the Casinos Austria brand with poker products since then.
Commenting on the shared liquidity announcement, RAY Vice President of Digital Jan Hagelberg said that their joint work with win2day will significantly improve the quality of online poker offering in both Finland and Austria. The official further noted that the shared poker network will also increase players’ interest in the two brands’ poker games.
Win2day Managing Director Martin Jekl added that the merged poker network will further cement his company’s position as a leader in the provision of online poker options in the Austrian market. The executive further dwelt that they have found a strong partner with RAY that, among other things, shares their commitment to promoting responsible gambling.
Playtech Chief Operating Officer Shimon Akad commented that they are happy to be powering the industry’s first shared liquidity cooperation between two strong brands.
Online poker liquidity sharing has been a hot topic over the past several months as gambling regulators and officials from several regulated European jurisdictions have voiced interest in merging their player pools. It has become known recently that France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom have discussed the possibility for launching joint poker networks and have agreed on certain technical standards. Representatives from said countries have pointed out that first such networks may go live by mid-2017.
