German Media Group Steps in the Poker World

Germany’s most popular broadcast and largest commercial television station is preparing to enter the poker world after they signed an exclusive agreement with England's PartyGaming. RTL and PartyGaming are planning the launch of a new website called RTLpoker.de, with linked ads to the PartyGaming's website

RTL is already popular among internet surfers, having over 6 million visits a month so the cross marketing between the existing site content and online gambling is a new frontier that may turn out important. Part of the agreement between the two companies is also that PartyGaming’s website and poker schools will be advertised on RTL station. PartyGaming underlined that this is a white label deal in which the two companies are only joining services.

The German market is one of the most hunted after frontiers with all that involves online gambling. However, Germany has yet to legalize the market, thus it is unexploited. The prospective market share, based on other European countries' success and neighboring Austria's successful Bwin, for example, is significant.