Italian casino powers on as poker slide continues
Monthly figures for March show casino revenues grew 25% to its highest total of the year while poker fell 14%
Italy’s online casino and poker verticals experienced mixed fortunes in March as casino enjoyed a 25% surge in gross gaming revenues (GGR) while poker’s decline showed no signs of abating.
According to figures seen by eGaming Review, casino GGR increased from 21.2m in March 2014 to 26.5m last month, a rise primarily due to a migration of players from the unlicensed to the regulated market.
March’s revenue figure also represented casino’s best tally of the year so far after having posted 25.9m and 24.3m in January and February respectively.
And the market is expected to grow further this year due to recent market entrants bet365 and PokerStars and the continued efforts of the regulator to halt the supply of games to unlicensed operators.
However, while casino’s rise continued, poker slipped further behind as GGR tumbled to 14.6m, down 14% year-on-year.
In a market dominated by PokerStars, poker tournament revenues dipped 7% to 6.5m while cash games fell 19% to 8.1m.
The numbers come as Italy’s government revealed it had stepped-up efforts to clamp down on unlicensed gambling websites.
According to Italy’s minister for internal affairs Alessandra Belardini, since the turn of the year police had reported 2,210 sites to the country’s regulator.