- ARJEL’s report on the French regulated market for 2013 is the first released under the new President, Charles Coppolani, and it strikes a very different position from the 2012 report issued by his predecessor Jean Francois Vilotte.
- Last year’s report showed that added together, poker operators had lost €68m. The year before it was €88 million.
- For 2013, total operator losses for online poker have reduced to just €9 million. Losses from online poker now
- Under the administration of President Coppolani, online poker will have to sink or swim with the status quo intact.
ARJEL’s report on the French regulated market for 2013 is the first released under the new President, Charles Coppolani, and it strikes a very different position from the 2012 report issued by his predecessor Jean Francois Vilotte.
The 2012 report could be summarized as a comprehensive argument for change. President Vilotte, who had been in office since the market was regulated in 2010, grasped the nettle of the difficulties that were causing online poker to decline, and proposed shared liquidity, changing the basis of gaming taxes, and expanding the range of games available.
Vilotte lobbied the French parliament for the legal changes necessary and was rebuffed—he left before the end of his term of office to take a position in a private sector law firm.
The 2013 report represents a more politically acceptable position—Coppolani has learned the lesson of Vilotte’s failed reforms—and paints quite a different picture of the situation.
