The Latest European Trend – State Run Poker Sites

In his classic novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ George Orwell describes a totalitarian society in which the government has almost total control over the people, running every aspect of their lives and monitoring their every move. The novel has been highly influential, and is regularly cited during discussions about government control and civil freedom. Orwell went to great lengths to describe this futuristic world in perfect detail, but even he didn’t see this one coming – state run poker sites.

Some European governments want to cash in on their country’s Poker action, and they’re doing so by offering government-run poker sites. First to act was Sweden, which introduced the world’s first state-owned online poker site back in March of 2006. The site is run by Svenska Spel, a state-owned gambling company. Svenska Spel has been running the popular state-controlled lottery for over 100 years (since 1897), and also offers casino and sports betting. Another government-owned company, ATG, holds a monopoly over horse betting. With Sweden’s long history of regulated gambling controlled by the government, it comes as no surprise that this country would be the first to add poker to its list of civil services offered to its citizens.

The Swedish government chose Boss Media, a successful Swedish company in its own right, to supply the software for the site. Thanks to the official government backing, the poker site (www.svenskaspel.se) experienced massive growth within its first three months, with over 30,000 signups.

It took almost two years, but other countries are starting to catch up. Austria launched its very own state-run poker site in Febuary 2008, making it the second in the world. Austria followed Sweden’s lead in more than one way. Though the site is owned by Austria's state-controlled Osterreichische Lotterien and Casinos Austria, it was developed in partnership with Sweden’s Svenska Spel. The site is called Win2Day.at, and uses Boss Media for both its software and poker network. The Austrian site also offers a large selection of lottery and casino games.

The new Austrian site is opening with strong promotions, in an attempt to draw to itself as much attention as its strong servers can handle. In the month of February alone, the site will be offering a total of €50,000 in guaranteed freeroll prize money. They will also be sending players to the prestigious Casinos Austria Poker Tour (CAPT), through various satellite tournaments. The site did not neglect its educational role, and has set an €800 per week maximum deposit limit, in an effort to promote responsible gaming.

In some way, state-run poker sites can be viewed as good news for poker lovers worldwide, and for the online gaming industry as a whole. As a growing number of legitimate governments offer their citizens venues to play poker at, the game is gaining recognition as a legitimate pass-time. Through poker, online gaming in general is making huge leaps towards the mainstream. There are, however, a few more things to consider.

Svenska Spel’s CEO, Jesper Karrbrink, explained in a recent interview why government-run sites have a good chance of capturing the majority of the online poker market in their respective countries. “Offering citizens a safe environment in which to play online poker - under optimal conditions of responsible gaming and player protection - is the main advantage that comes with state-run sites”. Karrbrink failed to mention the ultimate advantage that these state-run sites have – the law. Governments have legislation on their side, and they can use that weapon to wipe-out their competition. This is in no way a paranoid, conspiracy-driven, ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’-inspired theoretical Orwellian possibility, but a sad reality.

Once the Swedish government managed to win over most of its country’s poker action, it turned to legislation. Sweden started cracking down on foreign-based gaming companies using heavy restrictions. As of today, all of the legally-recognized poker games held in Sweden, both online and offline, are government-run. Online poker is only offered on Svenska Spel’s site, violating various EU fair-trade treaties. The EU is currently taking legal action against Sweden, stating in a formal notice that Sweden cannot legally ban foreign-based gaming companies from offering poker to its citizens while the government promotes the same actions through its own poker site.

Now that the Austrian government also owns its own poker site, it will be interesting to see if its attitude towards privately-owned and foreign-based gaming companies shifts in the near future. Will it continue to follow the path laid by the Swedish government? Will it seek total monopoly over the online poker action in Austria?

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