Italian poker decline continues

The Italian poker sector posted disappointing figures for April with overall poker revenues down 3% to €32.5 million, while PokerStars increased its market share as the leading poker room.

Whie tournament poker actually rose slightly month on month to €14.4 million, cash game poker revenue for the sector was down 10% on March at €18.1 million.

Tournament revenues were down 47.4% year on year, but this was due to the introduction of cash games in the second half of 2011.

PokerStars increased its dominance of the Italian market with a huge 39% market share in tournament poker and a 26% market share in cash games, both up from March figures.

The second largest operator was Italian firm Lottomatica with 9.25% of the tournament market and 10.8% of cash games, while the Bwin-owned Gioco Digitale held on to third spot with an 8.4% market share in tournaments and 6.25% in cash games.