888 Holdings started 2018 running straight out with a launch into Italian space, starting a regulated Italian-facing client for poker. This is not the beginning of 888’s adventures in Italy; the poker client will be joining a casino and sports betting service which already runs on the .it domain and users will be able to access all three facilities
The choice is certainly smart with regards to timing, with the country looking likely to merge player pools with several other Mediterranean countries, namely Spain, Portugal and France, in the very near future. It’s only to get better, and bigger, with merged pools glinting on the horizon. Furthermore, it’s a safe bet. Italy is already the second biggest gambling market in Europe behind the UK, and the action is fast, loose and frenetic on Italy’s existing poker sites.
Granted, on the downside, Italy looks set to drag its heels for a while on those merged player pools. It was Italian politicians who caused the initial shared liquidity deal between the four nations to founder, objecting at the last moment that cross-border play would encourage money laundering, a major enough issue already. It’s unlikely that any progress will be made before the March general election.
Naturally, 888 will be running televised ads in Italy in the wake of the 3rd January launch, and offering €2,500 guaranteed “freerolls” daily with simple task-based qualifications for tickets. There will be a speed fold poker format, Snap Poker, as well as a time limited jackpot game with prize pools up to €300,000 by the name of Blast Poker.
888 could be said then to be getting in a good game rather early, which is often no bad thing. They’ll have time to build up a roll, get some momentum, work on their image and then, when the game really gets hot, they’ll be in pole position to just crush it.
