A self-confessed gambling addict is suing the French government for €100k for failing to prevent him from accessing online poker sites.
Under French law, players can register with the ministry to be banned from all casinos and online gambling sites. The Reims man claims he registered voluntarily last year, but the wrong address was added to the list. He was therefore still able to register for online poker sites and, presumably, did so and lost.
In 2010, France regulated online poker with the establishment of its official licensing body ARJEL. In its segregated market, all operators – of which PokerStars.fr is by far the largest – must check all new account sign-ups against the ministry banned list of some 36,000 players.
