Italy has contributed to the headaches of many an iGaming executive in the last few years. First it was the all-out ban of online poker sites–then the blacklisting–before the u-turn that allowed restricted online gaming. Now the latest headache presents itself in the complications attached to launching online poker in Italy. The Italian government announced that online poker would be legal in Italy but bound by, amongst others, the following rules: any site operating in Italy could only accept Italian players in its tournaments; the operating site’s servers have to be located in Italy; and every single tournament must be approved by the Italian government. With these caveats in place, it’s clear that launching an Italian facing poker operation continues to be difficult and time consuming. Gratis senor! Free-to-play testing harnessing real-play profits Gioco Digitale (an Italian-based and owned iGaming site) won the race to be the first cash online poker company in Italy the 2nd of September – just one day after the law legalizing online cash poker was officially implemented. Gioco Digitale started with the free-to-play route in order to test the company’s competency in adhering to the Italian government’s demands. Central to Gioco Digitale’s testing period was its technology provider’s ability to meet the unusual requirements set down by the government. If the technology failed, ultimately Gioco Digitale’s reputation and opportunity to get a licence would be in jeopardy. It is telling that none of the big poker networks were first—and for the most part have yet– to gain a licence in the country. Networks carrying thousands of players world-wide have to, for Italy only, build in restrictions for entering tournaments. Carlo Gualandri, Gioco Digitale’s CEO, was not convinced the networks had what he needed. In hindsight, it looks like he was right, as Gioco Digitale, for more than two months were the only pay-to-play poker site in Italy–an enviable market position. The Italian poker landscape: who’s in and who’s not How could this happen? How did Gioco Digitale manage to do what few else managed? You are probably thinking, ‘wait a minute, didn’t I read that PokerStars are in Italy?’ Yes they are, and at the time of writing (November 2008) they only—like many others announcing a presence in Italy—offer a free-play site as illustrated in a statement by their Italian Manager on the 13th October: ‘”For now,” says Fabio Angeli Bufalini “until we have finally completed the verification procedures of the technical platform, on PokerStars.it you can play only play for fun (fake money) with users and the best players from around the world.” Slowly but surely though, the field is growing. Bwin/Ongame and Lottomatica/Boss Media came online offering 24/7 real money poker play in Italy in November. As of this writing, SNAI, Sisal, Eurobet and Cogetech planned to launch the first week of December on a restricted play basis, the first week only three hours of play per day; second week, increased to 12 hours per day; and finally full 24/7 play in the third week. Maintaining the early mover advantage. In addition to meeting the government’s caveats, Gualandri, being a keen technologist, wanted to be able to add to modify, customise and integrate functions within a gaming logic that was reliable and robust. “We decided early on that we would control our technology.” Gualandri chose CyberArts. Not only did he believe CyberArts would be able to fulfill the Italian government’s requirements, but Gualandri felt the company ticked the four most important boxes he had on his list: quality, in terms of the gaming product; effortless software implementation, as a result of the open architecture; good scalability meaning Gualandri was confident that the platform was dimensioned to the magnitude that Gioco Digitale planned to hit; and customisation that would fulfill Gioco Digitale’s own ideas and cultural considerations necessary to Italy. . Italian newspaper, AGI Italy Online, boasted in September 2008 that 11% of the population aged 14-64 had tried their hand at poker. That’s a whopping 4.3 million people. It is no wonder that poker operators the world over want in on this market. Gioco Digitale—with superior technology–got there first. And going forward? Gualandri believes, “From our point of view, CyberArts allowed us greater front-end customization–an important factor in helping us establish the online poker market in Italy–as well as differentiating ourselves once the competitors start clipping at our heels.” Clipping at their heels indeed, a sentiment that Quirino Mancini, Partner at Italian law firm Sinisi Ceschini Mancini & Partners, concurs with: “The Italian poker market is getting ever more crowded,” and along with the current contenders, he adds, “It is likely that other poker rooms will follow suit in the next few months because AAMS is on the verge of implementing fresh remote gaming regulations.” These regulations according to Mancini will be devised as “lighter and more European-friendly requirements which, among other things, will allow a foreign-based operator to keep servers across the Alps provided they remain within the EU space.” A fast development team working with flexible open architecture software allowed Gioco Digitale to gain the early competitive edge. That same software platform will help them keep it going forward.
