Portugal to Join Shared Online Poker Liquidity Project Soon, French Gambling Regulator Says

Casino News Daily

The President of the French online gambling regulator, ARJEL, told local media that Portugal is very close to joining the shared online poker liquidity project, which had its official start last week when PokerStars went live with Franco-Spanish shared poker tables.

In an interview with French channel RMC Sport TV, Charles Coppolani, France’s top gambling official, said that Portuguese regulators have entered the final stage of preparation to enter the scheme, and that it will not be long before Portuguese players will be able to play against their counterparts from Spain and France.

Mr. Coppolani has been the biggest advocate of the shared liquidity project over the years after he took the helm at ARJEL back in 2014. His lobbying efforts convinced the French government to adopt the necessary amendment in the country’s gambling law that allowed it to negotiate shared liquidity agreements with other jurisdictions with segregated poker markets.

Said amendment came into effect in the summer of 2016. It then took the gambling regulators of France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal almost a year to negotiate the terms of a shared online poker liquidity agreement and to sign it. The project was penned in July 2017 by the four regulatory bodies at a meeting in Rome.

As mentioned above, it was last week when PokerStars celebrated the realization of the project by launching Franco-Spanish poker tables. While other operators have too expressed interest in participating in the scheme, including France’s Winamax and 888poker, it is yet to be seen when they will receive the necessary regulatory approval to launch shared poker tables.

Portugal’s Online Poker Environment

Portugal’s online poker market is still a nascent one, particularly when compared to the other three that participate in the shared liquidity project. The country regulated the provision of online gambling, poker included, in 2015, and it was not before May 2016 when the first online gambling licenses were issued.

However, Portuguese poker players had to wait until December 2016 in order to be able to play the game on a locally licensed website. SRIJ, the Portuguese gambling regulator, issued the first online poker license to PokerStars. Here it is also important to note that PokerStars is currently the only licensed online poker operator to be operating in the local market. It is expected that more poker rooms might be given the nod to enter Portugal, now as the shared liquidity project is live.

Italy’s Participation

During his recent interview, Mr. Coppolani also commented on Italy’s participation in the project, expressing concerns over the country’s ability and willingness to enter it. The French gambling official said that he hoped his Italian colleagues were still committed to the project, despite the apparent delays in its implementation within Italy’s regulated gambling environment.

According to Mr. Coppolani, the upcoming general election in Italy and the political uncertainty surrounding events of this kind could further delay the country’s actual participation in the shared liquidity scheme.

Several days after Mr. Coppolani’s interview, Pier Paolo Baretta, Undersecretary of State at Italy’s Finance Ministry, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to the project, and said that a verification process, possibly of a technical nature, is currently being carried out. Once completed, the country’s gambling regulator will be evaluate the results from it and to proceed with Italy’s entry into the project, which is hoped to improve the state of Europe’s ring-fenced online poker market.

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