Austrian Online Poker Launched
Published: Saturday, February 09, 2008 Online-Casinos.com
AUSTRIAN ONLINE POKER LAUNCHED
Boss Media's International Poker Network to welcome Austrian online poker fans
The deal between the Austrian state gambling authority and Sweden's Boss Media and state-run Svenske Spel to launch a new online poker room came to fruition this week on the Boss Media network.
In starting Internet poker operations at Win2Day.com, the Austrian government becomes one of only two European governments (the other is Sweden) to offer state-sponsored poker. The venture was put together in collaboration with the Swedish state gambling monopoly Svenske Spel and Swedish casino and poker turnkey provider Boss Media (see previous Online-Casinos.com/InfoPowa report).
The new site runs on the Boss Media International Poker Network and began taking registrations Thursday, both for real-money play and for 4 special Euro 5 000 introductory freerolls for Austrian citizens. Marketing activities in the form of advertising have already commenced.
Win2Day additionally offers lottery and casino action under a license from the state's Österreichische Lotterien GmbH. Another state company permitted to offer gambling in Austria - Casinos Austria - is a major shareholder in the lottery, and is using the new website to market its terrestrial poker venues.
Whether Austria will risk the close attention of the European Commission by emulating Sweden and Germany in excluding private companies from other European Union nations remains to be seen. The manner in which the government treats Bwin, which is listed in Vienna and offers a wide range of online gambling services including poker, will be especially interesting.
