Pokerstars parent group Amaya will be pleased with the enthusiastic response to its entry into the Portuguese market at the beginning of this month (see previous reports). Figures from the independent online poker monitor Pokerscout show that cash game traffic rose 10 percent as the international giant settled in, quickly overtaking 888Poker.
Pokerscout numbers show that an average of 18,615 concurrent cash game seats were filled across all of the Pokerstars online poker platforms, covering both the dot-com market and the dedicated, an increase of 20 percent on the day before the launch, with Portugal contributing 10 percent of that total.
On launch day, Pokerscout reports, Pokerstars Portuguese cash game traffic reached 1,500 average concurrent seats, and that number has continued to grow. In the last week, the average has been 1,922, making the Portuguese Pokerstars site second only to its international stablemate in volumes.
That’s almost as much weekly action as France, Italy and Spain combined – surprising, given Portugal’s relatively smaller population of 10 million vs. the 173 million residents of its three rivals.
The results have vindicated Amaya’s decision to ensure that Pokerstars was the first to licence under the new Portuguese online poker regulations, clearly answering a significant demand for poker in the recently liberated jurisdiction.
The numbers also make Portugal a popular player pool sharing prospect if the regulators and politicians in Europe can get that act together.