Casino City's iGaming Pocket Directory - 2016 Edition

58 Sponsored by Casino City’s iGaming Pocket Directory POKER POKER POKER INDUSTRY OVERVIEW have been removed and players remain anonymous at the tables, and PartyPoker’s “Casual Cash Games,” where players are only allowed to play at one cash game table at a time. Perhaps the most controversial move, however, was announced by PokerStars in late 2015, when it announced that it would be slashing loyalty benefits for high-stakes and high-volume professionals. In an environment where building liquidity is difficult, finding ways to keep players depositing and playing on the sites is critical for operators. In Europe, three major jurisdictions have “ring-fenced” their players. Players in France can only play other players in France. Players in Italy can only play other players in Italy. Players in Spain can only play other players in Spain. In late 2015, Portugal announced that it would also ring-fence its players when its regulated market opens in 2016. This ring-fencing has had a detrimental effect on liquidity pools. France, Italy and Spain – three of the five most populous countries in Europe – have been removed from the global pool of players. COUNTRY TOTAL POPULATION Germany 80,822,000 France 66,300,000 United Kingdom 64,100,000 Italy 60,782,027 Spain 46,439,800 Poland 38,484,000 Romania 19,942,642 Netherlands 16,909,000 Belgium 11,150,000 Greece 10,816,000