PokerStars Italy Releases Its First Set Of Online Casino Games

PokerStars is the biggest online poker website in the world and for a number of years focused primarily on developing its online poker offering and spreading its presence across the world. Ever since Canadian based Amaya Gaming acquired PokerStars, the company’s marketing and operational strategy has significantly changed.

PokerStars announced a few months back that it was preparing to diversify its portfolio of games and would look at launching a new set of online casino games. The move did surprise many in the industry but PokerStars confirmed that it wanted to make use of its massive list of global online players and give them a wider variety of choice, enabling them to play whatever games they desired.

With this in mind, PokerStars has decided to launch its first set of online casino games in Italy and then measure the initial response. PokerStars is scheduled to launch blackjack and roulette on its PokerStars.it website. Players who sign up for PokerStars online casino games will have the opportunity to play these games using real money or play money and test their skills.

The PokerStars website now features a special tab called ‘Casino’ which lists the entire portfolio of online casino games available. PokerStars players will be able to use their same poker wallet to transfer funds and play these online casino games.

In a statement, Sam Hobcraft, director of Casino for PokerStars and Full Tilt said

The launch of casino games on PokerStars allows players to enjoy the convenience of playing poker and casino in one place. Our games are fun, safe and we are using our global experience to offer fun games for Italian players.

There are a number of variants of online blackjack available on the casino tab. Some of these variants include European Blackjack, Atlantic City Blackjack, Double Deck Blackjack and Classic Blackjack. The starting bet for the real money online blackjack games will start at €0.10 and high stake options are also available for those who want to bet higher.

While there were initial concerns that PokerStars could weaken its global online poker presence by diversifying its portfolio and introducing online casino games, the company confirmed that the impact was negligible and had no negative consequences. On the contrary, PokerStars hopes its online casino game portfolio will attract thousands of recreational poker players who will ultimately end up playing online poker.