Spain’s online poker market shrunk in the second quarter of 2013, along with most of the other online gambling verticals. In February, outgoing head of Spanish gambling regulator Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego (DGOJ) Enrique Alejo stated that one of his goals for 2013 would be to establish a poker liquidity sharing deal with his counterparts in Italy. Alejo’s replacement, Carlos Hernandez, recently confirmed to Spanish-language site Poker-Red.com that the DGOJ was still talking with Italy, although he cautioned that “substantial” work remained, particularly on issues of taxation, and thus he couldn’t put a timeline on when shared liquidity could become a reality.
But Hernandez also referred to an Italian liquidity deal as a “temporary solution.” As such, Hernandez has scheduled liquidity discussions in the current quarter with regulators in both France and Denmark, but he’s also eyeing liquidity beyond Europe. Much like Ladbrokes’ decision to launch a Mexican Sportium, Hernandez suggested that the Spanish-speaking multitudes in Latin America would seem a natural fit for sharing liquidity with Spain, although he cautioned that many of these countries currently lacked the infrastructure to make this a reality. But maybe Mexico, maybe Argentina… tomorrow the world?