• 888Poker arrives in Portugal
• Portuguese players to benefit from shared-liquidity with Spain
• The country’s iGaming market marks 50-percent expansion in Q1,2019

888Poker is entering a second European market in Portugal, creating an opportunity for players in the country and Spain to play for better prizes.

888Poker Arrives on the Portugal Gaming Scene

While the United States is bogged down in legal obstacles, Europe is forging ahead with a fully-developed online and offline poker environment. 888 has just introduced the 888poker platform in Portugal, one of the main markets on the continent alongside Spain and France where share-liquidity options abound.

888poker is the second entrant in Portugal where PokerStars has already launched under its own domain name. 888Poker.pt may be late to the party but it’s equally posed to claim a substantial chunk of the poker fandom, leveraging its synced cross-border poker network.

Specifically, 888poker players will be able to play against their Spanish counterparts, with the last country to be added to the network being France where lawmakers have a slightly more hawkish stance towards poker.

Come to 888Poker to Experience the Game

Players can enjoy access to a vast selection of games, including Progressive Knockout Tournaments which are 888’s signature work as well as SNAP and BLAST games. 888 B2C Head, Guy Cohen, had the following to say on the recent expansion in Portugal:

“Portugal is a fantastic opportunity for 888 and we’re excited to be just the second poker operator to enter the market. Players love their poker and there is incredible scope to grow its popularity.”

The expansion has been made possible thanks to the approval of the nation’s regulator, the Serviço Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos do Turismo de Portugal (SRIJ), which gave the go-ahead for the company to introduce its product.

Specifically, 888 has a license to hold Hold’em and Omaha tournaments and cash games. The move is also quite refreshing as 888poker is facing serious competitors in the face of PokerStars and partypoker, which has been coming back with new products and markets.

General tremors in the poker vertical haven’t helped much with card rooms prospects either. The poker’s industry shrunk by 38% year-over-year, which has left some companies in doubt whether the game would ever be as popular as they had hoped for.

Shared-liquidity seems to be an answer and Europe has a significantly larger population when it comes to poker players. Spain alone beats all U.S. poker markets combined with its 48 million people. Here’s what Mr. Cohen had to add about sharing prize and player pools across borers:

“Shared liquidity with 888poker.es will enhance players’ gaming experience with a greater pool of players and we believe our platform can help lift the entire landscape for poker in Portugal.”

While poker has been in the doldrums Portugal’s iGaming market has generated $53.4 million up to March 31, 2019 which is a nearly 50% increase year-over-year.