Portugal to join shared poker liquidity pool

After France and Italy, Portugal is geared to join shared poker liquidity by May, according to Stars Group chief executive Rafi Ashkenazi.

Last year, regulators from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal inked a deal that would allow operators who are active in more than one of the markets to merge their player pools.

France and Spain are both already active within the pool, with several operators who have licenses in both of the countries utilizing the new option.

In February this year, the Portuguese Gambling Regulatory Authority (SRIJ) passed a resolution to authorise shared liquidity with other countries.

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.”