According to DLA Piper's gaming lawyer Giulio Coraggio, Italy may be about to introduce an all-new set of norms that will lead to the creation of an international regulated online poker market with the hope that this will bring people back to the online poker tables.

"Italian gaming laws are going to be considerably amended as part of the so-called Delega Fiscale law which, among others, is likely to change the regime of sports betting and poker tournament to 20-percent Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR)," Coraggio said last week.

Although the text of the law is not public yet, Coraggio claims that the upcoming changes may finally allow Italy's gambling regulator AAMS to get a more active role in the development of gambling-related policies and to work closely with its European counterparts.

"In the last draft of such law, a new provision was introduced to allow the management of games by the Italian gambling regulator, AAMS, together with the authorities of other countries," Coraggio states.

For the time being, it is not clear how the Italian authorities plan to promote the launch of an international online gambling market and deal with the technical and legislative challenges this implies. However, all the actors in the industry seem to agree that the injection of new liquidity may be the best step to take to make the sector more attractive to players and operators.

"The online poker market is facing considerable difficulties worldwide and in countries like Italy, Spain, and France the impact of such crisis might be even higher given that they are closed loop markets," Coraggio concludes. "But if poker international sharing liquidity will be allowed, the scenario might considerably change."