The shared liquidity network that is taking place in Europe between Spain, France, Portugal and Italy seems to be all the rage right now. It was only recently that we reported on Portugal being ready to join the poker pool and that Winamax players will join Spain’s pool within two months. However, it’s not only that countries and their players that are preparing to enter the network. It’s also different poker networks.
Such is the case with PartyPoker, which is also looking to involve itself in the shared liquidity proceedings. A representative for the poker room has confirmed the platform’s intention of becoming an integral part of it all. The company has been increasing the reach of its online and live poker offerings in recent years. With Spain and France already rolling out their shared poker offerings last month on the PokerStars Europe network, PartyPoker wants a piece of the action.
The representative stated that a similar move is in the works, and PartyPoker already has a presence in the two countries. Furthermore, it was made clear that the site is also interested to explore opportunities in both Italy and Portugal as well. However, the aim for the moment is to wait until both of these countries are successfully integrated into the network.
What Happens Next for the Network and PartyPoker?
As spoken of, Portugal is already close to sharing its pool of players on the network, meaning that the activity there should continue to increase. Meanwhile, Italy appears to still be stalling on any kind of movement towards integration. It seems like this country will be the very last to finally join the shared liquidity pool.
As far as PartyPoker is concerned, while it does have presence in France and Spain, what about the others? It does have operations in Italy already, which takes place via a local network between bWin and Gioco Digitale. There was a partypoker.it platform at one point in Italy, but this closed down midway through the year of 2016. For now, it’s difficult to say how the PartyPoker pool of Italian players will enter the shared liquidity network.
And looking at Portugal, the site does not have a licence from the gambling regulator of the country. The only one holding such a licence within Portugal is the aforementioned PokerStars. However, it is thought that there will be more licences issued to any interested operators once it is fully a part of the network.
No specific time-frame has been given by the PartyPoker representative. However, there was a note made that the shared liquidity network will be “country-specific”. This means that any players from the global PartyPoker .com website will not be able to participate.
