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San Francisco ( May 2009) - When Italian entrepreneur, Carlo Gualandri, founder and CEO of Gioco Digitale (an igaming site based in Italy) decided to take on a new challenge, no one doubted it would be a success. The dotcom veteran and founder of Italy’s largest internet portal, Virgilio, has been a mainstay of the Italian new media scene for the last decade. What commentators might not have expected, however, was his determination to set up the first poker site in Italy. A goal that would have most quaking in defeat. How could such a site be developed in a legal environment that could be described as complicated and restricted at best? One where the online gambling industry yo-yoed between the parameters of the legal and illegal before the country’s u-turn, in August 2006, when it allowed the beginnings of online gambling.

Gioco Digitale already had a suite of online betting and lottery products, but on hearing the Italian government was going to legalise skill games to include online backgammon, blackjack and poker, Gualandri knew it was time to execute his ambitious plans: “We want to be a serious player in online gaming in Italy. We can’t do that in the sports betting market, because, whilst not yet mature, the market is sufficiently saturated that barriers to entry are high,” commented Gualandri. “Poker, on the other hand, is fresh in Italy. There are no established Italian brands so it is an ideal environment for us to launch in.”

The inclusion of backgammon in the Italian skill gaming law, already had Gualandri thinking about CyberArts, whose backgammon gaming platform he was aware of, as an option as Gioco Digitale’s software provider. CyberArts was then cemented more firmly in Gualandri’s mind, as the structure of the skill gaming law meant joining a poker network was not possible for three reasons: Gioco Digitale’s servers had to be located within Italy; every single tournament has to be approved by the government; and only players in Italy can be permitted into tournaments.

In addition to the government’s caveats, Gualandri, being a keen technologist, wanted to be able to add to modify, customise and integrate functions within a gaming logic that was reliable and robust. “We decided early on that we would control our technology.” He continues, “We always had in previous ventures so saw no issue with managing and developing it ourselves.” It was going to be a tough task setting up Italy’s first poker site in such strict conditions, but one that Gualandri was eager to take on.

To achieve Gioco Digitale’s vision, Gualandri required a core gaming engine to integrate into their own system: “We evaluated ‘make’ versus ‘buy’ options for our technology platform,” Gualandri reveals. “But in order to offer a high end product, we realised it would be better to rely on a company who had experience of igaming markets that are much more developed than Italy and our own expertise.”

Old acquaintances not forgotten: triggering technology decisions with vigour

At a conference in October 2007, Gualandri bumped into familiar faces, from his early tech days in the eighties. CyberArts CEO, Chris Derossi’s reputation preceded him as Gualandri recalled his name from Derossi’s Apple days, where Gualandri was also a key figure. CyberArts Chairman Ken Arnold facilitated discussions of how CyberArts’ technology could enable Gioco Digitale to make the most of the new opportunity by being the first to market with legal online poker in Italy.

“It was like reminiscing with old friends as we had a lot of mutual connections,” recalls Gualandri. “Now in new circumstances, I was keen to learn about the CyberArts’ offering, particularly on the poker side, and what it might mean for Gioco Digitale.”

What started as nostalgic recollection soon turned into a new-found respect for each other’s businesses. “I felt there was an affinity of values, goals and culture. The more we discussed, the more impressed I was by their industrious strength, the scalability potential of their offering and the open architecture principles behind it,” enthuses Gualandri. “What’s more,” he continues, “It’s the ethos I felt we shared in the ability to control technology as a way to conduct better business that made me want to talk to CyberArts further.”

Gualandri saw six companies before selecting the final three for more in-depths talks. He had already discounted the networks, for the reasons mentioned earlier. However, Gualandri states that even if the legislation had not required it, he would have still not chosen a network: “In igaming, the networks do not seem interested in the development of your company and product," begins Gualandri. “We had to choose a company that held a value in the product and wanted to develop our offering as a partnership and not just provide a service.”

After discussion with the final three companies, Gualandri believed CyberArts best matched Gioco Digitale’s criteria. Not only would CyberArts be able to fulfil the Italian government’s requirements, but Gualandri felt the company ticked the four most important boxes he had on his list: quality, in terms of the gaming product; effortless software implementation, as a result of the open architecture; good scalability meaning Gualandri was confident that the platform was dimensioned to the magnitude that Gioco Digitale planned to hit; and customisation that would fulfil Gioco Digitale’s own ideas and cultural considerations necessary to Italy.

Ken Arnold concurs: “A key aspect of CyberArts winning this deal was ensuring we could meet the roadmap set out by Gioco Digitale in their ambitions of becoming the largest igaming site in Italy. We also had to be able to meet the Italian authorities’ legal requirements.”

CyberArts VP of Engineering, Rudi Diezmann, expands on the government’s requirements: “Italian law requires player verification in real time,” he explains. “Within thirty seconds of the table going live, Gioco Digitale needs to have had permission from the authorities that the tournament can begin. If for some reason that permission cannot be given, a message pops up on the screen to say the table has been cancelled and that the players should try again later.” Continuing, Diezman says, “Whilst this was a new request for CyberArts, it was not beyond our scope, as our platform has provisions to talk between servers. In the States, for example, CyberArts is used to asking servers for permission in regards to subscription based gaming.”

It was the flexibility of CyberArts’ gaming platform Foundation™ that attracted Gualandri to the company. As Arnold describes it, Foundation™ is the result of “years of developing a universal client that is robust and scalable to exceed the substantial player volumes that Gioco Digitale hopes to be achieving in the coming months.” Asked about how the collaboration of working with CyberArts fared, Gualandri is honest, “Because of our inexperience in the sector, there were a lot of mistakes in the beginning in terms of what we thought we wanted.” He continues, “But we are supported perfectly by CyberArts who assisted us in setting up our requirements and modifying them to the changing plans of the Italian authorities.”

All in: Taking poker to the Italian Masses

In May, four months after development first began, Gioco Digitale has launched the first Italian based and owned poker site and been greeted with a great response from players. “I was very happy with the launch. It was flawless,” states Gualandri. “Because the Italian government is not ready with its systems, we have had to launch a free-to-play site,” he explains. “In terms of the platform, this site has all the functionality and management of processes as the real pay-to-play site will have.”

Gioco Digitale’s site has a full set up of tournaments with different buy-ins. There is always a prize such as thousands of Euros worth of ecommerce vouchers, bonus game points, seats at the WSOP in Vegas or seats at the Italian national poker championship in Venice.

Using CyberArts as their software partner has enabled the founders of Gioco Digitale to break more boundaries in the world of new media in Italy. Gualandri thinks this is due to one key factor: “We have demonstrated to the government that a software platform can be developed in a responsible manner to fit their criteria,” In addition, Gualandri believes, “From our point of view, using CyberArts also allowed us greater front-end customisation, an important factor in helping us establish the online poker market in Italy as well as differentiate ourselves before the competitors start clipping at our heels.”

Indeed, CyberArts finds it receives higher levels of customised preference option requests from clients who desire to distinguish themselves from the competition. Diezmann corroborates this, “Every single client that we have ever dealt with has unique ideas that require custom software. Foundation provides the client with full relationship access with the end user. This means that html content can be personalised, banners for promotions can be tailored to the needs of the marketing campaign, the lobby area can be customised to reflect the scheduled tournament and the tables in the actual game-play modified depending on the player.”

Having conquered one challenge in keeping the Italian authorities happy, Diezmann was surprised to see he had another unusual request to build into the gaming logic that would heighten the customisation of Gioco Digitale’s product. “Gualandri asked us to incorporate the ability for the player to see the best possible hand based on whole cards and community cards,” recalls Diezmann. “So when a player mouses over their hole cards, the software computes the best possible hand at that moment for the player. This is done at the flop.” He continues, “It can be disabled by the player with a simple check box option – just like other customised features that appear in the preference options of Foundation.”

Gualandri explains why this feature is attractive for the inexperienced Italian poker market: “We had a rich road map of announcements and modifications that needed to be programmed because Italians, whilst curious, are not used to Poker in the same way as Americans, the Swedish or British.” He goes on to explain, “In the next version, we will add a feature that shows the player how and why a person won. It’s part of the education that, with the help of CyberArts, will make our product stand out.”

Market reaction to Gioco Digitale’s poker offering has pleased its founders no end. “Player response has been much better than expected,” Gualandri states proudly. “We closed the second month of operation with 30,000 registered users.” He is not fazed by the challenge of converting these players into real cash customers. “Assuming the regulatory process goes to plan, we hope to have 100,000 registered users in the first six months of our offering and to be able to convert a significant part to money gaming” Gualandri rationalises.

With marketing targets ahead of schedule, and a healthy lead time of around a month before the networks are allowed by the authorities to look at the Italian market, Gioco Digitale has already had to spec up the size of their tournaments as they are experiencing fully booked seats already. “For me this could not have been achieved without the flexibility, scalability and robust nature of the software provider,” says Gualandri, before concluding modestly, “We understand the internet and have been responsible for some of the most recognisable online brands in Italy. Creating a poker site, however, within the restrictions set out by the Italian government and our own peculiar requirements could have been a nightmare! By choosing CyberArts, the process was extraordinarily smooth. And we are very pleased with our status as Italy’s first poker site!”

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About CyberArts Licensing Privately-held CyberArts is the developer of Foundation™, the most technically advanced software platform for online gaming operators. The only fully licensable platform available , operators can create their own branded, customized gaming service quickly and easily, using any languages and any currencies. The platform supports poker, backgammon, casino, and other games, can be used by operators running cash games or advertising-or subscription-supported free play, and includes sophisticated administrative, design and reporting tools.