French casino group Partouche is going ahead with its plans for the launch of its Gibraltar-licensed online poker site
aimed at French players, according to Gaming Intelligence Group. What makes this interesting is that online poker is still classified as illegal gambling in France.
The move comes at a time of much talk about the upcoming liberalisation of the French online gaming market in the new year.
Recently, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie proposed methods of helping the French online industry compete better with other online poker sites, but these suggestions were all based around live poker.
Patrick Partouche, the Group’s chairman, said, “Nobody ever listened to me, so now I am going to take action. The French State acts as if there is no such thing as online gaming, well, let them continue to do so… It’s everybody or nobody. I am putting myself in the same position as the 2,000 online gaming sites that already exist. It is the most legitimate situation, although perhaps not the most legal one. It is no longer acceptable.”
France’s Finance Minister, Eric Woerth, recently said that such liberal steps are unlikely to occur however, before the end of 2009 or even early 2010.
