Europeans discuss shared liquidity for online poker
Regulators from the continent’s biggest markets open discussions on deregulating liquidity pools.
National gaming regulators from Europe’s largest online gambling markets met in Paris last week with opening up shared liquidity pools high on the agenda.
Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Austria were all in attendance, as was the UK which was the only participant to already have shared liquidity pools, something that France's online gambling regulator, Arjel, wants to make happen as soon as possible. To that end, Arjel successfully lobbied for a French parliamentary vote earlier this year.
France to go unregulated soon
When the new laws take effect in France around the end of the year, Arjel will be able to work with licensed operators in other countries in relation to games already available to French players. Originally this meant only Hold’em and Omaha but will now also apply to Omaha 5, 2-7 Triple Draw and 7-Card Stud.
Arjel are not alone as Spanish regulators and AAMS, their Italian equivalent, both also acknowledge that segregation was a mistake. One of the key influencers is that it has been proven that considerably less tax is collected when player pools are segregated.
From a poker player’s point of view, partly because of a host of complicated tax rules in differing countries, the new rules could mean lower rake and tournament fees as well as larger event guarantees, both of which are affected when games are regulated.
Away from poker, the regulators also discussed standardisation, money laundering and responsible gambling.
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