Powerful political opposition in Italy could upset the applecart for the shared online poker liquidity project the country’s gambling regulators have been working on with their counterparts from France, Spain, and Portugal for over a year now.
The scheme would allow online poker players from one participating country to play against peers from the other three jurisdictions and aims to revitalize the ailing poker markets of all four countries. (READ SO: POKER LIQUIDITY WHY EUROPEAN SHARED ONLINE COULD FAIL ?)
Recent media reports from Italy have suggested that responsible gambling campaigners and politicians are concerned about the project’s impact on gambling customers and that the launch of the online poker network could facilitate the illicit flow of money and related criminal activities.
Problem gambling and legality concerns were also voiced by Senator Franco Mirabelli, who is known to be leader of Italy’s Anti-Mafia Commission. According to Mr. Mirabelli, the launch of an online poker network in partnership with other countries at a time when Italy is trying to limit the proliferation of gambling was rather unreasonable. (READ SO: THE FIRST ONLINE POKER NETWORK IN EUROPE)
