Report: Full Tilt Poker No Longer Entering Italian Market
Italian players will not get the chance to play at Full Tilt Poker tables anytime soon, as Amaya Gaming has reportedly decided not to bring the poker room to Italy.
According to Italian news agency Agimeg, a representative from the room's ownership has confirmed that Full Tilt Poker will not enter Italy's regulate online poker market.
The decision has been based on "several different reasons," which includes the decline that the Italian gambling industry has been suffering since the past few years.
As anticipated earlier this summer here on PokerNews, the rumors about an imminent launch of Full Tilt Poker in Italy increased when the room's former parent company The Rational Group applied to Italy's gambling authority AAMS for a casino license.
Although the website at FullTilt.it continues to display a "Coming Soon" webpage, Agimeg adds that Amaya's plans are now to focus all the efforts on PokerStars and capitalize the room's leading position in Italy by adding some casino games to the existing platform, rather than launching a brand new one.
As the new Amaya strategy was announced, Barbara Beltrami stepped down from her country manager position at PokerStars.it after six years, as she will focus exclusively on her new position as Senior Project Manager for Southern Europe.
By mid-October Beltrami will leave the room's top chair to Marco Trucco, EuroBet's current Gaming Director. Trucc's experience in the Italian gambling industry is expected to help PokerStars enter the online casino gambling market.
In addition to his time at EuroBet, Trucco previously worked for the Everest Group and has a consolidated knowledge of Italy's online casino industry. From 2011 to 2012 he worked as Chief Executive Officer at CasinoItalia, an Italian online gambling hub which included a casino room, a poker room and a sportsbook.
*Lead photo courtesy of Deviantart.net.
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