Italy is the latest European Union nation to launch online gambling licensing and regulations. And, with some estimates putting the market value at almost €5 billion, Italy is also considered to be Europe’s biggest online gambling market. Needless to say, the world’s premier online gaming brands are scrambling to get a piece of that action.
And if you’re a gaming marketing affiliate looking for new international opportunities, that’s good news for you. Here’s why EU-facing gaming marketing affiliates should be looking at the Italy in 2011 and beyond:
Why Italy?
For marketing affiliates looking to enter, or expand in, the EU market, Italy may be the most promising location to consider.
Online gambling was regulated and legalized in Italy in 2007. “In Italy, 2009 has been the year zero for this product; some operators started to offer paid versions of Bingo games,” reports Research and Markets. “Last year, Bingo’s margin in Italy reached 26.6 million.”
So that’s good news for bingo marketing affiliates, and maybe even a better sign for affiliates focused on casino gaming, which is being launched in Italy this summer. “At a worldwide level, online casino represents the product with the best potential growth scenario in the coming years — in 2012 a Gross Margin of about $7.8 Billion is expected, with a growth rate of 13.5% in 2011.”
With that in mind, here are some of the many major online gambling brands now licensed for the Italian market that gaming marketing affiliates can consider:
888 just received an official license to operate online gambling in Italy this month. “The granting of its license not only bodes well for 888, but suggests … that the rapid expansion of Italy’s gaming market is all but a certainty,” according to GamblingCity.net.
Bwin.Party announced in recent days that it, too, has launched a newly licensed series of online games for the Italian market. “On the poker side of things there’s PartyPoker.it and GdPoker.it. For casino games including all the usual suspects; blackjack, roulette, baccarat, slots etc, there’s bwin.it and iocodigitale.it,” reports LiveDealer.org.
“No sign yet of partycasino.it, or indeed a live dealer option at either bwin.it or iocodigitale.it which is available to players at Party Casino. Like William Hill, Party Casino already have a live deal product that is AAMS certified (Evolution Gaming’s) so logic would dictate a live casino option bearing the AAMS seal being available to Italians soon at one of the bwin.party brands.”
William Hill is perhaps making the biggest splash in Italy, with a newly launched casino gaming suite that arrived earlier this month. What’s significant about WH’s Italian investment is that it withdrew from the country in 2008 after a weak poker performance.
But that was then; this is now. William Hill’s new Italian site “offers Italian players a wide variety of casino games including several versions of roulette, blackjack, video poker and much more,” the company stated in a news release. “The William Hill casino site will be followed by the introduction of a rich portfolio of products including sports betting, bingo and poker.”
“We’ve spent over a year and a half in the design and development stage and we’re really proud of the outcome,” said Roby Salvadori, William Hill’s Head of Italian Operations, “The site itself is fun, fresh and secure and we believe it will be a big hit with Italian players.’
Other major brands facing the Italian market include virtually all CAP Listed Programs. Browse them here and find out what program best matches your goals for Italian affiliate marketing.