PokerStars increased its stranglehold over Italian poker in the first quarter of 2013, commanding 44% of the €22.7m revenues generated by the dot.it player pool in March.
In cash games, the global poker leader claimed 38.3% of the €13.5m in gross gaming revenue (GGR) collected by Italian-licensed operators, up from 36.5% in December. Stars also increased its share of the €9.2m tournament segment from 43.3% to 51.3%, according to the latest dataset from regulator AAMS.
Stars’ advance was however achieved amid the continued decline of the regulated online poker market in Italy, cumulative cash game revenues ending the quarter 34.6% down on 12 months earlier, and tournament revenues 36.4% lower.
AAMS said this “was probably due to the general decline of the game of online poker that is occurring in foreign markets”, as well as “a general decline of spending on games in Italy.”
Playtech’s iPoker retained its position as the leading network in Italy, with the gap to the Lottomatica-owned International.it network potentially set to widen with the subsequent migration of Cogetech’s IziPlay.it brand from the International to the Ongame Network, announced this month.
Former market leader Microgame, whose People’s Network battled PokerStars for dominance of the ring game market as recently as last summer, suffered the most dramatic decline in Q1, as its licensees’ collective share of dot.it ring game GGR fell to 12.1% from 14.8% in December, and to 7.8% from 16.4% for tournaments.
Microgame’s network has been hard hit by a ban on “totem” gaming terminals installed in shops and public places which were an important component of its business model, and also by licensee departures for other platforms. Bookmakers’ collective La Multipla left for the Gioco Online Italia platform in March, although the impact was partially offset by the decision of several of its skins to move back the following month, FullPlay returning to the platform and MagicBet and SportBet splitting their poker offer between the two networks.
Italy online poker market – March 2013 (% of GGR)*
Cash games – leading rooms/operators
PokerStars.it – 38.3% (36.5%)
Gioco Digitale.it – 7.4% (7.1%)
Lottomatica – 7.4% (8.2%)
SNAI – 5.1% (5.7%)
Sisal – 3.7% (4.6%)
Cash games – leading networks**
Playtech/iPoker – (SNAI, Sisal, Titanbet.it, Eurobet.it and others) – 15.8% (16.3%)
International (Lottomatica.it, Totosi.it, Cogetech/Iziplay.it) – 12.7% (13.5%)
Ongame (including Gioco Digitale.it, bwin.it) – 12.2% (11.8%)
Microgame/People’s Poker Network – 12.1% (14.8%)
Gioco Online Italia – 2.6% (3.7%)
Tournaments – leading rooms/networks**
PokerStars.it – 51.3% (43.3%)
Playtech/iPoker – (SNAI, Sisal, Titanbet.it, Eurobet.it and others) – 13.6% (12.8%)
Ongame (including Gioco Digitale.it and bwin.it) - 12.1% (14%)
International (Lottomatica.it, Totosi.it, Cogetech/Iziplay.it) – 12% (11.6%)
Microgame/People’s Network – 7.8% (16.4%)
*December 2012 figures in brackets
** Calculations by Casino Choice based on AAMS data
Article written by Stephen Carter
