Italy may be a step closer to joining the shared online poker liquidity project, according to local news outlets. As reported earlier, the Italian government was conducting the required technical checks to eventually merge its player pool with those of France, Spain, and Portugal.
Italian poker news outlet AssoPoker reported late last week, citing unnamed sources, that the checks were completed and that the the technical standards for conducting shared liquidity now need to be published before any further actions regarding Italy’s eventual entry into the online poker scheme are taken.
According to AssoPoker, there should be very few administrative hurdles before the publication of the technical framework. However, the poker news outlet pointed out that Italy’s online gambling regulator Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM) could publish these after the country’s March 4 general election.
AssoPoker further explained that while Italy’s participation in the shared liquidity project seemed to have gained enough political support in the current government, changes in the country’s political landscape could have quite a negative impact on the online poker scheme.
A number of Italian politicians have previously expressed serious opposition to Italy’s entry, citing concerns over increased money laundering and other criminal activities. Proponents of the project, which is hoped to revive online poker across Europe’s segregated markets, have pointed out that the necessary anti-money laundering controls would be introduced so as for the shared online poker networks to be prevented from being used for illicit flows of money.
Winamax Readies for Spanish Launch
Meanwhile, French online poker operator Winamax teased Spanish players by rolling out a Winamax.es Spanish-language landing page. The poker room was recently licensed by France’s online gambling regulator ARJEL to launch shared Franco-Spanish poker tables and it is now preparing to go live in Spain.
The operator still needs authorization from the Spanish online gambling regulator, DGOJ, but given the recent launch of its .es page, it will probably not take long before this happens.
Portugal recently published its technical standards in its Official Journal, which means that the country can now officially enter the project. PokerStars, which rolled out Franco-Spanish poker tables in January, is currently the only operator to be licensed by SRIJ, the Portuguese gambling regulator, and is expected to open its PokerStars Europe shared liquidity network to local players within the next few weeks.
The world’s largest online poker room launched its Franco-Spanish tables immediately after Spain’s technical standards were officialized. However, PokerStars first needs to launch the Seat Me feature in Portugal. Said feature had been available in Spain and France, prior to the launch of the shared liquidity project. Generally speaking, it prevents players from selecting a table when entering the PokerStars Europe network. They are thus assigned a table automatically.
