Four-year absence
Following a four-year absence, partypoker has been granted a gaming license to operate in Italy’s online poker market. This new license came into effect on April 1 and the platform is now live.
Players from Italy are now welcome to enjoy cash games and enter prestigious multi-table tournaments at partypoker. The MTT schedule has yet to be published, but it is expected to follow in the coming weeks.
welcome to enjoy cash games and enter prestigious multi-table tournaments at partypoker
With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic forcing people to stay at home, online poker sites are experiencing high levels of traffic.
Since the deadly coronavirus outbreak caused numerous live poker tournaments to be canceled, partypoker has announced that it will host online WPT events and an online version of the Irish Poker Open.
Liquidity needed
Tom Waters, partypoker’s managing director, spoke about the company obtaining an operating license in Italy. He said: “Despite recent changes that restrict marketing in Italy, the poker market there remains an exciting opportunity for partypoker.”
As time goes on, this offering will expand in scope. One of the main issues that partypoker will have to deal with in Italy is the absence of liquidity sharing. Cross-border gaming is not yet a reality even though Italy has an agreement in place with Portugal, Spain, and France.
Impact of COVID-19
Italy’s self-isolation measures are set to remain in place for the foreseeable future. While retail gambling operations are suffering, online gaming platforms are taking advantage of very high traffic levels.