PokerStars confident of Italian poker revival
Head of PokerStars Italy Marco Trucco says liquidity is a problem but product innovation can help return the market to growth
PokerStars head of Italy Marco Trucco (pictured) says the country’s declining online poker market will “bounce back” thanks partly to the release of products designed to bring new players to the game.
Speaking to eGaming Review after we reported Italy’s poker revenues had fallen 21% in 2014 to 187m – a figure 45% down on the 341m posted in 2012 – Trucco said innovation would be key in reviving the vertical’s fortunes.
“PokerStars is working to embrace a wider audience, designing poker experiences that appeal to recreational players: faster, mobile and with the extra thrill, like Spin and Go,” Trucco said.
“Poker is now mature in many markets, it means that it has reached and engaged the natural customer base for a game that requires a lot of skill, dedication and time to be enjoyed at its best,” he added.
Trucco, who joined PokerStars from Eurobet in October, attributed the recent decline in poker to a number of factors, most notably a lack of liquidity, an increased number of unlicensed operators and growth in casino – a vertical PokerStars recently expanded into.
“We strongly believe that regulation is good but segregation is bad,” Trucco said. “On the international market we could launch a million dollar Spin and Go promotion. In Italy our liquidity allowed us to go up to 50k and no more – you can spot the difference.
“Also, illegal operators are growing again and they pose a serious threat to player safety and the whole industry reputation,” he added.
Despite these pressures, Trucco said the poker market remained “quite resilient” and with additional investment and new products he predicted the market would soon “bounce back”.
“We’re very optimistic by nature, we have very ambitious plans to grow PokerStars’ presence in Italy in 2015 with the necessary product pipeline, marketing budget and the most dedicated team,” Trucco said.
“We have to break into new ground but we won’t disappoint our players,” he added.
DLA Piper gaming lawyer Giulio Coraggio told eGR he believed the country’s regulator was likely to approve an increased number of new poker products to help boost growth in 2015.
“The Italian gambling regulator holds the view that the growth of the market occurs through innovation and indeed it has been very open to accept proposals about new game mechanics in the last few months and I expect that new innovative products will be launched in the near future,” he said.
Despite poker’s struggles, gross gaming revenues for Italy’s online market grew by 0.5% to 729m in 2014, thanks to 9% and 7% growth in casino and sportsbook respectively.