Portugal close to joining shared poker liquidity pool

Portugal could join France and Italy in shared poker liquidity before the end of May, according to Stars Group chief executive Rafi Ashkenazi.

In July last year, regulators from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal signed a deal to allow operators active across more than one of the markets to merge their player pools.

France and Spain are both already active within the pool, with various operators licensed by regulators in both of the countries taking advantage of the scheme.

In February, the Portuguese Gambling Regulatory Authority (SRIJ) approved a resolution to authorise shared liquidity with other countries, and the nation is now seemingly ready to join, with PokerStars gearing up to launch.

Speaking in an earnings call, Ashkenazi said its PokerStars.PT Portugal-facing site will connect with the network “potentially very soon”.

In January, PokerStars rolled out a shared player pool between locally licensed online poker markets in France and Spain, and its Portugal site now looks set to also join the shared pool.

“Portugal is likely to be added to the pooled liquidity this month, potentially very soon,” Ashkenazi said on the call,

“I’ve no doubt that this will boost the revenues we are currently generating in Portugal.”

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