Italy has been instrumental in trying to make online poker accepted around the world and they’re actually the 1st country in the EU to legalize online poker completely. There are a lot of restrictions that poker sites need to follow in order to operate in Italy legally and online poker players also have some rules they need to follow. Italians are only allowed to legally play poker at sites that have an AAMS license.

Best Italian Poker Room

#	Brand	Bonus Offer	Ready To Play?
1.		100% to €600	Play 888 Poker
2.		100% up to €500	Play Intertops Poker
3.		100% up to €600	Play PokerStars
4.		100% up to €500	Play Party Poker

18+ - Terms and conditions apply to all bonus offers.

Italy initially tried blocking every poker site in the country back in 2006, but they have to withdraw the ban due to the EU. Italy only wanted government controlled poker sites to operate in the country, but it wasn’t allowed by the EU. Now most of the major poker sites have an AAMS license and operate on an .it domain. Italians are only allowed to play on poker sites that operate in Italy and can’t play on any international poker sites.

There are definitely advantages and disadvantages for poker player in Italy. The obvious advantages are that every poker site is strictly regulated and your money is always safe. You don’t need to worry about your deposits not processing since it’s legal to play online poker and most importantly you won’t have the Italian authorities knocking on your door. There are plenty of disadvantages though as well such as the rake being more than international sites, traffic numbers are much lower and there isn’t nearly as many promotions running for Italians.

The reason poker sites in Italy need to charge more rake is because they need to pay licensing fees and taxes in order to operate legally in Italy, which is a lot of additional costs for an online poker room. Italian poker players can also be limited for playing too much online poker in the country, which is a very weird law that players need to worry about. Although there are a lot of rules to follow in order to play poker in Italy, it’s definitely a lot safer now that online poker has become regulated in Italy.

Italian Poker Deposit Methods

Italians have the luxury of not having to worry about deposits being declined since it’s completely legal to play online poker in the country. The most popular deposit options in Italy include Visa, MasterCard, Delta, Visa Electron, PostePay, Local Bank Transfer, PaySafe Card, Click&Buy, EntroPay, Ukash and Neteller. Deposits and withdrawals from Italian poker sites are always very quick and players in Italy won’t need to worry about it taking long to receive their money.

Italy has done an amazing job at legalizing online poker in the past several years and it has proven to be a success. Many jobs have opened up in the country and millions of dollars in tax revenue is being generated from Italian poker sites. Other countries should try following the same steps that Italy has done and start working on getting online poker legalized all around the world. Italians have plenty of legal poker sites to play in, but you should try sticking with our recommendations above.