by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Dec 2, 2011 | Updated on Dec 2, 2011Countries like France and Italy are already making great progress when it comes to a national online poker network. We are pleased to report that starting this January Spain will join them by starting a network of their own. With the break of this news, it can also be reported that there are already almost 20 sites in the process of applying as we speak.All the companies you would expect have already begun applying, like 888, PokerStars, and Bwin. According to egrmagazine.com, who first broke the story, the application will cost you an upfront fee of around 2 million Euros. In this endeavor Spain is driving away small poker rooms simply because their taxation for member sites is very high. Spain must be careful because if the tax rates are raised high enough, it may drive everyone away from the new network. Something very similar to the situation I just described happened in France not too long ago. Rake from site to site became so outrageous that players refused to play.A bit of info that is important to pass along is that this network is strictly for Poker. This means that slots and other casino games will not be present, even though Spaniards are very close to their casino games. In addition to the ban of casino games the network also will not support any type of sports betting. This seems odd to most because Spain, and its thriving sports industry, is a country known for its sports betting.Spain is not the only country in the process of making a nation-wide poker network, both Germany and Denmark have begun the formation of their own networks. It will be interesting to see how these networks run once they are live. It is only a matter of time before every major European country has a nationally regulated and monitored online poker industry.
