Italy's online poker continues downward spiral

Italy’s online poker woes show no sign of abating with revenues figures for January revealing the vertical fell 17% year-on-year as casino continued on its upward trajectory.

According to data seen by eGaming Review, total gross gaming revenues for poker across the month totalled €16.9m, down 17% on the €20.3m posted in January 2014.

The biggest fall was seen in the cash games sector, which contracted 25% from €12.2m to €9.1m, while tournament play suffered a 4% decline, down from €8.1m to €7.8m.

Once the backbone of the Italian online gaming market, poker has now fallen behind sports betting and casino in the revenue pecking order and last year poker revenues fell by 21% to €187m – almost half of the €341m recorded in 2012.

But while poker continued to fall, Italy’s online casino market continued to grow. In January the vertical expanded by 15% having posted revenues of €25.9m compared to €22.6m the previous year. In 2014 casino revenues grew by 9% from €236m in 2013 to €258m.

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.

Earlier this month, eGR reported revenues for Italy’s sports betting market in January had fallen by 12% to €18.1m, although the market showed strong underlying growth with stakes up 81% to €216.3m.

Market conditions are set to change in the coming months after this week it was revealed the country’s government was close to approving a new law which would see all online verticals taxed at 20% of GGR.

While this means no change for casino and cash poker, sports betting, bingo and poker tournaments will all switch from their current turnover-based regime.

The primary law may also see the regulator discontinue its sportsbook official list in a move which would hand full control of sports betting markets to the operators.