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Italian law allowing the international poker liquidity sharing might be a major step for the gaming market where poker is facing a considerable decline.
The current scenario in the gaming market
I have been talking about online poker sharing liquidity for several years, but no actual step towards such change has been performed so far. Italy, France and Spain appeared in several instances close to enable their licensed operators to share the liquidity among their gaming platforms. However the decision of the French Parliament in 2013 to rule against European shared gaming liquidity hindered the process.
The new Italian draft gaming law
Italian gaming laws are going to be considerably amended as part of the so called Delega Fiscale law which, among others, is likely to change the regime of sportsbetting and poker tournament to 20% GGR. In the last draft of such law, a new provision was introduced to allow the management of games by the Italian gambling regulator, AAMS, together with the authorities of other countries determining the allocation of the wagered amount.
The actual terms of such sharing liquidity are still uncertain and will depend on the negotiations between Italy and other countries. Also, it is unclear how technical integration among platforms working under different rules and technical requirements will operate. Finally, the same provision might be used not only for international lottery games that are already ongoing with quite limited success, but also for instance in the horse betting sector to allow the placing of bets on events occurring abroad.
The future of the poker market
The online poker market is facing considerable difficulties worldwide and in countries like Italy, Spain, France etc. the impact of such crisi might be even higher given that they are closed loop markets. But if poker international sharing liquidity will be allowed, the scenario might considerably change.
We’ll see when it will happen, but the provision above certainly is a good step towards the right direction.
