French players banned from pokerstars.com

Its the end of the world as we know it. Well the beggining of the end.

Did France pass some new legislation or something?

Yeah, they "opened" the online poker and sports betting market, which means they close access to international rooms, restrict French players to french rooms only (like Italy does) and apply an extra rake as tax: 2% capped at €1 for cash games, and apparently there's no "no flop no drop" rule in the law, but hopefully there will be one in the decrees that are still to be published. Anyway, a €1 cap on top of the room rake means HU and short-handed play will be unbeatable at small stakes and there will be no traffic anyway at mid-stakes and higher. RIP French poker, IMO.

That is Bad news...Cannot help if eventual regulation of online sites in U.S. A. will cause similar results?

That really sucks Belgo, sorry.

Proxys ftw.

Good news for Full Tilt imo.

I wonder if there were any French SNE chasers??

Total suckage I am pretty much leaving pokerstars soon anyway but this is still sad to hear come on France get the poker resistance going!

Thats where I am off to next WV and thats a very good point about the supernova/elite chasers be intrestiing to see the response to this news over the coming weeks.

Probably Great news.

Terrible. I'm confused won't Full Tilt be forced to follow?

On the bright side, all those stuck up frenchie fishes will come to FTP

it depends. If a company accepts French players, it breaks French laws, but if it has no special reason to abide by the laws of France, nothing prevents it from operating according to the laws of the jurisdiction where it's located.

Obviously the French state will try to make it harder for rooms operating under foreign licences. Advertisement is only possible for French licenced rooms, bank transfers will become harder to process for foreign rooms, IP blocks... And of course when a foreign company gets a French licence, it has to commit to refuse French players on its international site. That's why pokerstars is not available anymore.

Players on the other hand are not breaking the law by playing on foreign sites. The only trouble they have. So we're hoping that a few international networks will choose not to operate a French licenced room.

Time to move Belgo!

well, i'll be in Vegas for the next two weeks...

israeli players get around legistlation by using Webmoney or Ukash... maybe its a valid option for you?

Here's something you should use then.
http://www.hidemyass.com/

Or you can move.

Horrible horrible decision by pokerstars imo. Meh French law

Ireland has decided to review the state of online gambling sites, specifically foreign operators who pay no tax to the state. Hopefully they will limit that to horse racing because thats all they seem to care about atm. Hopefully they won't see this as a benchmark when they go to start decsision making.

Mmm, I miss poker for two whole days and the world changes. So hard to keep up to date. Thanks for the info.

this is pretty big news, i know elky is like supernova elite on stars

he would be mega pissed...

full tilt must be stoked IF they are not forced to do the same

This is pretty big news. I understand that countries want to get in on taxation but why do some poker sites roll over and bail. How many sites bailed the US instantly when that stupid wire act was passed? And for what reason? The law was aimed at banks and financial services that funded the poker players not the rooms themselves.

Can't these sites create a loophole to comply with a country's law so everyone can play? I know it can be more complex than simply creating a system that taxes only French players while US players don't get taxed all while in the same card room, but there has to be something.

Maybe countries that want to tax their citizens for playing online poker should require the companies that handle withdrawls to deny withdrawls until proof of a tax form (representing the amount) is provided or prepared. This way France gets tax and players get to play.

This is what happens when greedy governments want their cut. After tax dollars are used to gamble at anything, why the f*** should they get their troughs topped up.

Elky is a citizen of the EU and can legally reside anywhere in it to forego the French Law,,,,,,maybe they are pissed about their football team.

Did the Germans invade again?

I didn't keep up with it at the time - did they do the same to Italian players when they changed their laws?

it so good to be english are laws are so tame compared to other countries

Elky lives in London afaik

obviously. All the professional French players live abroad.

I'm sorry to read this BelgoSuisse, I guess the petition that we signed a while back was to no avail?

Well, there were two million people in the streets of France yesterday to protest the new retirement laws and most likely it won't change the government's decisions, so no, an internet petition wasn't enough to save online poker.

Surprisingly enough, all the French companies that applied for a licence got it already, while most of the foreign operators who applied for one haven't had the answer yet. This thing is so rigged it's ridiculous.

For those of you who undestand French, have a laugh here:

http://onvateplumer.com

http://tuvastoutperdre.com

http://megacotesbidons.com

those are 3 fake websites made by the new French online gambling commission ARJEL in order to convince French players to play on regulated sites. I very much hope that legitimate gaming authorities like Malta's LGA or Alderney's GCC bring them to court for libel.

wow, what a drag.

What a shame, there go's most of the easy money.

He is listed as doing so on the WSOP results service

Attached Images

elky.jpg (4.8 KB, 156 views)

Meh, France is only the 4th fishiest country in absolute terms according to http://www.pokertableratings.com/top-countries . USA, Canada and Germany bring more money to the poker economy than France does.