Austria will soon launch its first state-run poker site thanks to a partnership between Swedish software provider Boss Media and Sweden's state-run poker operator Svenska Spel.
The two companies announced in October a partnership to supply software and security solutions, respectively, to an unnamed state-controlled operator, which was also a member of the World Lottery Association. This week it was publicized that the mystery company is a joint operation formed by Österreichische Lotterien (Austrian Lotteries) and Casinos Austria.
With the launch, Win2day becomes only the second state-controlled site to launch in Europe outside of Sweden.
"Poker is still booming in Austria, and we had a 300 percent increase in poker playing guests from our offline poker games in 2007," said Casinos Austria General Director Karl Stoss. "We hope to capture a substantial part of the Austrian online poker market with our responsible approach, just as our colleagues at Svenska Spel did when they launched with Boss Media in 2006."
The companies plan to launch the site, Win2day.at, in the first quarter of 2008 and will set the weekly deposit limit at 800 euros per player.
For their efforts, Svenska Spel and Boss Media are set to receive compensation via an undisclosed rake from the new site.