Proposal for Shared Player Pools Rejected in France

Note: This article is an abridged version of an article previously published on pokerfuse PRO.

“It brings to mind the idea of an ogre becoming uncontrollable that must be nurtured with ever greater market liquidity in ever greater quantities.” It took the French National assembly less than 20 minutes to reject an opposition-proposed amendment to 2010 gambling laws that would have allowed shared liquidity pools with other regulated markets in the EU.

The advice of regulator ARJEL was asked for and then ignored. Anti-gambling campaigner Razzy Hammadi suggested that the decline in the popularity of online poker was because it had simply fallen out of fashion.

“I am opposed because it brings to mind the idea of an ogre becoming uncontrollable and that, to continue to grow, it must be nurtured with ever greater market liquidity in ever greater quantities,” he argued.

Benoît Hamon’s objections were rooted in the additional difficulties that expanding the liquidity pool would bring to anti-fraud and anti-money laundering operations.

On the losing side was Damien Abad, who complained that members of the assembly were ignoring the professional advice they had been given.

“You yourselves requested an opinion from ARJEL ... which said very clearly that we can achieve a controlled opening and maintain regulated poker tables. But in reality, you do not want this.”

“Those players leaving today are regular poker players … they will turn to illegal sites,” he continued.

There has been hope in the industry that Europe’s three separate liquidity pools—France, Italy and Spain—would combine, increasing player liquidity and making for a more competitive, sustainable online poker market. Operating in segregated dot-country markets is a costly business, official data clearly shows.

Shared liquidity has been a frequent discussion topic in closed biannual meets between Europe’s regulators. As recently as november, ARJEL was recently confident that shared player pools would be a cornerstone of returning the market to growth.

It seems France will be left out of such progress. Online poker rooms that up to now been prepared to take the high losses that their entry into the regulated market has brought—in the hope of legislative changes—may now reconsider. More departures from the French market are likely.