The recent worldwide economic downturn has affected businesses and corporations in the world in different ways. While the banks of many nations around the world are stuck in a credit quagmire and the U.S. automobile industry is at a standstill, online gaming seems to be increasing in strength. An Italian poker site recently demonstrated this when it announced its third quarter numbers on Wednesday.
According to Business Wire, the Italian poker site Poker.it, which has been online since 1996, but only became accredited by the Italian government in August, has seen record growth since its re-launch that month. For some time, Italy prevented its citizens from playing poker online, but through its Autonomous Monopolies State Administration (AAMS), 30 online sites have now been licensed. Many Italians are still perplexed as to which sites are legal or not and Poker.it helps its customers eliminate this confusion by featuring only legal poker rooms in Italy such as PokerStars, PokerClub, and Gioco Digitale.
Mario Brandi, a spokesman for Poker.it, explained it best when he said, “Italians want to play legally, but don’t want to forfeit quality features to do it. Poker.it combines both. We’re a legal poker portal and the best source for poker room reviews of leading legal poker rooms.” The Chief Editor of the site, Marcello Giacopuzzi, stated that the site is also looking at many changes for the coming year, including social networking tools to link members of the online poker community together as well as blogs, forums, user ratings, and a poker club index.
The state of European poker continues to be a tumultuous one. While countries such as the United Kingdom freely regulate online poker companies – even trading their stocks on the London Stock Exchange – others have virtual monopolies on the industry. Italy, as stated previously, would not allow its citizens to play on anything but the state-run casino operation. Other countries, such as Sweden, have followed in the same footsteps. This doesn’t seem to be stopping those who are looking for a poker game on the European continent, however. Party Gaming, 888, and Sportingbet are among the bevy of companies that are traded in London.
During the prime evening playing time in Europe (afternoons in the United States), PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker lead the pack in terms of traffic, but many other rooms pop up that either cannot or do not accept American action. Sites such as PartyPoker, World Series of Poker sponsor Everest Poker, the iPoker Network (featuring Titan Poker and Chili Poker), and the Ongame Network (with bwin and EuroPoker) have their best action during European prime time. According to PokerScout.com, of the top ten online poker rooms and networks that are available, six of them do not accept American players and are driven to their positions by European action.
