Benvenuto Italia! The Technology Challenge behind Italy's First Legal Pay-to-Play Poker Site
When Italian entrepreneur, Carlo Gualandri, founder and CEO of Gioco Digitale (an igaming site based in Italy)
decided to take on a new challenge, no one doubted it would be a success. The dotcom veteran and founder of
Italy's largest internet portal, Virgilio, has been a mainstay of the Italian new media scene for the last decade.
What commentators might not have expected, however, was his determination to set up the first poker site in Italy.
A goal that would have most quaking in defeat. How could such a site be developed in a legal environment that could
be described as complicated and restricted at best? One where the online gambling industry yo-yoed between the
parameters of the legal and illegal before the country's u-turn, in August 2006, when it allowed the beginnings of online gambling.
Gioco Digitale already had a suite of online betting and lottery products, but on hearing the Italian government
was going to legalise skill games to include online backgammon, blackjack and poker, Gualandri knew it was time to
execute his ambitious plans: “We want to be a serious player in online gaming in Italy. We can't do that in
the sports betting market, because, whilst not yet mature, the market is sufficiently saturated that barriers to
entry are high,” commented Gualandri. “Poker, on the other hand, is fresh in Italy.
There are no established Italian brands so it is an ideal environment for us to launch in.”
The inclusion of backgammon in the Italian skill gaming law, already had Gualandri thinking about CyberArts,
whose backgammon gaming platform he was aware of, as an option as Gioco Digitale’s software provider.
CyberArts was then cemented more firmly in Gualandri's mind, as the structure of the skill gaming law meant
joining a poker network was not possible for three reasons: Gioco Digitale's servers had to be located within Italy;
every single tournament has to be approved by the government; and only players in Italy can be permitted into tournaments.
In addition to the government's caveats, Gualandri, being a keen technologist, wanted to be able to add to modify,
customise and integrate functions within a gaming logic that was reliable and robust. “We decided early on that
we would control our technology.” He continues, “We always had in previous ventures so saw no issue with
managing and developing it ourselves.” It was going to be a tough task setting up Italy's first poker site in such
strict conditions, but one that Gualandri was eager to take on.
To achieve Gioco Digitale's vision, Gualandri required a core gaming engine to integrate into their own system:
“We evaluated 'make' versus 'buy' options for our technology platform,” Gualandri reveals.
“But in order to offer a high end product, we realised it would be better to rely on a company who had experience
of igaming markets that are much more developed than Italy and our own expertise.”
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