Italian Job for Paddy Power and Prima Networks
The newly regulated Italian market has been earmarked as one of the best places to set up online gambling businesses.
The development of the online gambling market in Italy continues rapidly after Paddy Power and Prima Networks both made recent announcements.
Paddy Power said this week it will expand its Italian business, following a 17 percent increase in revenue to €5m in 2011 .
Meanwhile, Prima Networks will open a new Italian casino called Betflag, offering traditional online casino games and interactive games including video poker slots.
Prima Networks follows other major companies by securing a license before entering the Italian market. Although Betflag is licensed by the Italian AAMS, its parent company has a Maltese license.
However, Italy is still tweaking its gambling laws. Last month, Italy was derided for refusing to grant licenses to several foreign companies.
The European Court of Justice ruled that it not have the authority to do this. Industry experts hope the entry of Paddy Power and Prima Networks shows that Italy has accepted this ruling.