Having created an online poker network targeting Italy, Playtech Ltd., the software developer, has secured its first Italian licensee, Snai SpA, the country's second-largest online betting operator.
Currently, Snai's poker offering is available in downloadable, play-for-free form, though Playtech expects to roll out a real-money version by the fourth quarter of this year.
Tournament-play format, one analyst explained to IGamingNews, constitutes players placing a fixed sum -- say, $10 -- in a pot. The majority of the winnings are paid to the top three participating players, with the operator taking a small percentage.
The analyst, who wished not to be named, said revenue contributions from tournament play will be smaller than those taken from ring games, but that the deal represented a change of tack for Playtech.
"At some stage, they (Playtech) can't keep adding the new e-gaming licensees, because there're just not enough companies out there, and they've signed up quite a lot of them already," the analyst said, adding:
"So, they're going to start exploring new avenues of growth, and new avenues of growth are going to come from non-traditional gaming companies looking to leverage their I.P., their Internet traffic -- leverage more revenue out of that -- and one way of doing that is via online gaming."
Management with Playtech could not be reached for comment by press time Wednesday.
GameAccount Global Ltd. has also done a deal with Snai for skill games. Read our interview with Dermot Smurfit, the company's chief operating officer, here.
Chris Krafcik is the editor of IGamingNews. He lives in St. Louis, Mo.