By Zach Purgason

10/17/2008

               Italy legalized online poker just a few months ago and poker rooms wasted no time formatting their software for Italian play and reworking their online play to meet the Italian regulations.  Though the current economic situation is making expansion harder for some others still have the backing to move forward into this new online poker arena.  Among them of course is one of the leading establishments, PokerStars.

                Just days after PokerStars got together a version of their online poker services that was fully licensed by the Italian government they made it available to the players.  PokerStars new site is PokerStars.it where only Italian players are allowed to take part, but where players can qualify for major poker events around the world.  Players can take part in games with a variety of buy-ins that range from €0.50-€100.

                PokerStars sees this as an opportunity that goes beyond just the Italian market.  This could be a formula for tailoring websites to a number of countries as online poker becomes legalized elsewhere as suggested by PokerStars Manager in Italy Fabio Angeli Bufalini.  Considering Italian government estimates show online poker should bring in €400 from just this year alone, why not?

                PokerStars should see a fair amount of success as they have in the US and the rest of the world.  This is especially true considering they already have a few well-known Italian poker pros endorsing their site.  Luca Pagano and Dario Minieri are part of Team PokerStars making great showings at recent World Series of Poker and European Poker Tour events this year.

                As other online poker rooms are beginning to see new sign-ups stall PokerStars may get a boost from the estimated 500,000 Italian players that are likely to be signing up on sites.