Italy Pioneered Ring-Fenced Poker. Nearly Two Decades Later, It Still Stands Alone.

Italy Pioneered Ring-Fenced Poker. Nearly Two Decades Later, It Still Stands Alone.

Italy pioneered the ring-fenced model for regulated online poker, becoming the first major jurisdiction to launch a segregated player pool when it introduced tournaments-only poker in 2008. Cash games followed three years later, but the principle remained unchanged: Italian players could only play against other Italians. The model was later adopted by France and Spain when they regulated online poker in 2010 and 2012, respectively. However, the …