Page 72 - Casino City's iGaming Pocket Directory - 2013 Edition

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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