Casino City's iGaming Pocket Directory - 2013 Edition

70 Sponsored by Casino City’s iGaming Pocket Directory The online poker market has seen a rapid transformation over the past few years. Some of the changes, like the development of fast-fold poker, have been positive. Others, like the structural changes in the European market, have an adverse impact on many (but not all) operators. The new online poker marketplace is highly fractured, competitive and innovative. And in order to compete in that space, you have to have a good understanding of the environment and the players. Fractured markets, fractured liquidity Over the course of the last few years, Europe morphed from a single, homogenous poker market into one where significant pools of players are being ringfenced from the rest of the Continent. Players in France can now only play against other players in France. Italians can only play against other Italians, and Spaniards can only play against other Spaniards. When you remove three of the five most populous nations in the European Union from the player liquidity pool for poker, the business of online poker in Europe changes significantly. A chart published by bwin.party in their 2012 Half-Year Results Presentation reflects the disruption in the marketplace and the slowdown of the European economy. COUNTRY TOTAL POP. (2010) Germany 81,751,600 France 65,075,300 United Kingdom 62,435,700 Italy 60,626,400 Spain 46,152,900 Poland 38,200,000 Romania 21,413,800 Netherlands 16,655,000 POKER POKER INDUSTRY OVERVIEW