What’s that they say about France? They are not so friendly to Americans? Well, how about they are not so friendly to online casinos? Following in the footsteps of said America, the French government has gotten around to passing a bill which apparently legalizes online casino gambling. The only catch is that – according to critics – the bill makes it easier for French gambling monopolies to prosper while giving private operators more reasons not to set up shop in France.

Following the pullout of William Hill and Betfair in France, yet another online casino operator has decided to cease taking bets from French citizens. This time around it’s none other than one of Playtech Software’s longest running licensees: Peak Entertainment. Having operated Omni online casino since the late nineties (the early beginnings of a formidable internet betting industry), Peak Entertainment is now facing another huge drop in traffic with the decision to close it’s doors in France – something they decided to do long ago in the U.S.

However, unlike in the States, where online casino gambling and internet poker is deemed “illegal”, France has made it legal, but with a stiff arm to regulate. The incentive to operate in France (i.e., profitability) is simply not enough for many operators.

As for Peak Entertainment, the company’s affiliate program management team, Focal Click, has just notified all current affiliates that French players will no longer be able to open accounts at Peak’s gaming destinations, and that current players residing in France will have their accounts locked. Otherwise, Peak would be guilty of operating in France, but without paying the apparently steep fees required to do so.

The email notification went on to say that all players will be paid out their entitled funds in a timely manner, which considering Focal Click’s past track record, should be a given. As for Peak’s online poker room, Sun Poker, current sentiment is that it will keep doing business in France so long as Playtech (iPoker network) decides to cease from dropping out.

Tags: ipoker network, online gambling in france, online poker, playtech casinos, playtech software

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 at 11:05 pm and is filed under News, Online Casinos, Regulation, online poker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.