Discover Andorra: A Hub for Online and Live Poker

Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees, located between France and Spain. While both land based and online gambling is legal, they do not have any land casinos open – yet.

Simon’s Online Casino Gambling Blog describes the unfortunate situation as such. Between 1996 and 2012, bingo was the only legal game of chance in the small country. With the new 2018 legislation, commercial casinos got the green light from the government as well. One of the bingo operators applied for a licence to open one. It seemed as though the company Jocs S.A. would get the permit, making way for Andora’s very first casino. However, the gambling regulator ultimately decided against it.

Again, however, there was yet another twist in the story. After a rather lengthy legal battle, they did manage to win themselves the licence. So, if the pandemic is sufficiently contained, the brand new casino on Andorra at Prat de la Creu will open in 2022.

As of now, there is no place for local poker players to enjoy some live poker action. That is not true for online poker, though. All the major poker sites are legal in Andorra. In fact, you can habitually see some Andorran players run deep in big GGPoker events.

A similarly sized microstate on the other end of the Iberian Peninsula, Gibraltar (which is technically a British Overseas Territory), is actually a hotbed for online gambling companies. This is due to their relaxed tax and licencing regulations on gaming. However, Andorra is far from that. In fact, their online gambling market is completely unregulated as of now – but also completely legal.

Famous Andorran Poker Players

Since the country’s population is so tiny, Hendon doesn’t even have a specific Andorran all time money list. However, they do have a total of 31 Andorran players listed in their database. Out of that 31, the one with the most in live tournament cashes is a man named Ignacio Molina.

He has $244,058 in live tournament earnings. His biggest live score to date is $154,700, which he got for finishing second in the $1,700 No Limit Hold’em – GOLIATH Main Event at the Goliath Phamous Poker Series in Las Vegas in July 2019.

The second among the Andorran players is Zamorano Saez with $180,680 in live tournament winnings. He amassed that sum by winning a single €800 NLHE event in Cyprus back in November 2019.

As we wrote in our intro, Andorran players tend to be more successful in online poker than in live poker. A player playing under the screen name “MonsieurRask” on PokerStars, “jarumen” on partypoker, and “JeeyTy” on Natural8-GGNetwork has cashed for over $2.2 million in online MTT’s during his career. In September 2016, he took down a $1,050 WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) NLHE event for $225,754 on Stars.

Also from Andorra, “Hightroler” on GGPoker has $1.760 million in online tournament cashes.