French online gambling operator Winamax has become the second French licensee to win approval to commence cross-border online poker liquidity sharing.
On Thursday, French online gambling regulator ARJEL published a notice formally approving Winamax’s France-licensed site to share online poker liquidity with the three other nations – Italy, Portugal and Spain – that signed a liquidity deal last summer.
ARJEL previously approved a similar step by the France-licensed site of The Stars Group’s flagship PokerStars brand, which began sharing liquidity with players on its Spanish-licensed site last month. Players outside France and Spain can participate in the liquidity pool by registering via PokerStars.es, provided they reside in a market that has yet to impose its own formal licensing regime.
Winamax has yet to acquire a license from Spain’s gaming regulator but the company signaled its intentions last October when it inked Spanish poker player Adrian Mateos as brand ambassador. The company has also been advertising for new staff who are fluent in both French and Spanish.
Portugal’s gambling regulator approved its liquidity-sharing regulations last week, although PokerStars is currently that market’s sole online poker licensee. PokerStars has yet to indicate when it plans to include its Portuguese players in the cross-border pool party.
Italy has yet to confirm when it might make this thrillsome threesome a fantastic foursome but Italian politicians insisted last month that the country would respect the agreement it had signed.
Winamax acquired an Italian concession last October from Betclic Everest Group subsidiary Bet-at-home. Winamax exited Italy’s regulated market in 2015 due to its dissatisfaction with the ring-fenced limitations, so its renewed interest in the Italian market speaks volumes about how favorably poker operators view the new shared liquidity possibilities.
