Paddy Power Poker launched in Italy
Poker tab added to dot.it site prior to the planned launch of bingo and virtual sports later this year
Paddy Power has added online poker to its Italy-facing site almost two years after launching its sportsbook operations in the country.
The Paddy Power Poker tab was added to its dot.it site this week, and is expected to be followed by bingo and virtual sports later this year.
Paddy Power launched in Italy during 2012 and has since invested heavily in establishing a brand there with the firm posting a 16.8m loss from its Italian operations during 2013.
In its latest quarterly results it revealed it had a 10% share of the Italian sports betting market and had increased its share of the casino market to 3%.
But it highlighted the need to boost its product suit in a bid to break even in Italy by the end of 2014.
Outgoing CEO Patrick Kennedy said in May the launch of online poker, bingo and virtual sports should increase the operator’s “addressable market” in Italy by some 65%.
“There is growth but that’s primarily driven by increased spend per customer rather than new customers entering the market,” head of online Peter O’Donovan told analysts at the time. “As a brand looking to grow that’s obviously not optimal for us.”