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(AGICOSINTERNATIONAL) - 03 September 2010 - ONLINE POKER: MORE THAN 100 MILLION TOURNAMENTS PLAYED IN 2010, WITH AN AVERAGE GAMING SPEND OF MORE THAN €9 MILLION PER DAY

The amount gambled on poker websites is estimated to be more than €9 million per day during the winter season, with the average stake being €6,00, this figure drops to less than €8 million in the summer season. In 2010, Italians took part in more than 100 million tournaments. Online poker revenue hit record high in January 2010, totalling €288.5 million. According to research conducted by Agicoscommesse, traffic was highest during the weekends from 7.00 pm to 1:00 am. About a year ago, AAMS opened the first book on all major poker tournaments, but bettors didn’t take interest in this type of betting which is now no longer available. As soon as the first operators began offering real-money online poker to customers in Italy, business boomed. Microgame was the unquestionable market leader with turnover of more than €1.2 billion between September 2008 and July 2010. Gioco Digitale/Bwin had turnover of more than €1 billion too. In less than two years, PokerStars, the world’s largest poker site, has consolidated its position as number three in the market. If we add the market share of Lottomatica, these four players together account for over 80% of total online gaming turnover.

agicosinternational - 03/09/2010 - mf

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