PS bans French players

[pothole]

Thanks to the new law passed by the French government. Players from France can no longer play real money games at PokerStars. All affected players have been informed and are allowed to withdraw any funds they have on there.

[scrawnybob]

hi

just to clarify pokerstars have NOT banned French players

because its really easy for players to get the wrong end of the stick with
threads titled like this

French gaming regulations and licencing have changed / have opened up - Also France has NOT banned French players

basically PokerStars (and other sites) are in the process of apply & getting a French gaming licence

however in order to get this they need to cease all current real money French activity and move the players over to a (tempory) play money French player only site - ie. pokerstars.fr

once the licence is granted they will open up the real money games again on .fr where French players will only be able to play other French players

odd yes - but French players are NOT banned this is merely an interim solution for pokerstars to b e able to offer real money games to the French market within their regulatory framework

French players are able to play money on .fr

bear in mind this is likely the sort of thing that US market and other will end up coming up with ... is it a good solution ?

NO but it may well be the only option in alot of duristictions where either they want to keep control or more likely get as much a slice of the pie as possible

cheers scrawnybob

[Washerwoman]

they'll be burning sheep next...

sorry, i meant

surely not

the French????

Sacre Bleu! or whatever they say, moooouuuuton cadet...etc...

BAaaaahhhh Beeeehhhhhh Ceeeeeehhhhhh? Deeeeehhhhhhhh

getting v silly now, going to check out tennis schedules

tfft = scrumptious...phew...

[hojediade]

I mostly agree with Bob point of view.
As french i received the mail from PS telling how they were sorry and that they would do everything for french player to come back there as soon as PS will earn the licence.
But in my mind,i don't understand why i won't be allowed to share games with foreign players anymore. It's all about free circulation of people there to me.
If i was to live in UK for example, no matter the fact i'm french, i would be allowed to play everywhere but as i live in France, i won't be able to play with my friends anymore... That's sick.
To tell the truth, i' don't play enough poker apart from forums games so that i feel like i'm not going to play OL if i can't play the games i want to.
Glad FTP didn't cease its software yet for french people so that i'm still able to play our 4KSOP games. But for how long it will be able???

[pothole]

My aplogies, ban was maybe to strong a word, ' no longer allowed' would have been more apprpriate. FT no longer allows French players to make a 1st deposit, looks like their doing the same as PS.

[scrawnybob]

hi

I guess yes ban is too stronger word as its a transitional thing in the case of those sites seeking french licences

some other sites have just pulled out of the French market all together

but France hasnt banned poker etc ... the bottom line with the French market being ring fenced is so that they can keep all the French play within French players and therefore keep the tax / revenue etc all ring fenced too

not sure that it really complies with the EU open market regs but at least in Europe this is becoming an issue of how to regulated online gaming rather than in the US a case of how to try to hinder it

this is the problem online poker needs / should be totally global offering and inevitably its going to be run by offshore / global companies so regulation needs to be more standardised or sites able to comply with various countries laws while operating globally

however I think some countries dont really understand the business fully yet

I gather the French stance has irritated Malta and I wouldnt be suprised if things dont evolve again in a couple of years time

cheers scrawnybob

[tking888]

i hope that never happens to me in usa. my life would surely suck for sure. maybe it won't take them to long to get it organized. for hoje's sake.

[kingmotan]

It won't take too long before they get the license. But Hoje doesn't play for a living lol. I'm sure he would care less if it takes 1 week or 1 month. And he can play on other european sites. I'm thinking though about the players that were going for Supernova or Nova Elite, for whom 1 week can make a big difference. If someone is going for SNE and this week will put him alot behind pace he will lose at least 40k $ by not getting it.
I'm imagining how pokerstars.fr looks lol. A biiiiiig fish tank.. yummy
Anyway this whole thing sucks and I hope other countries will not take their example.

[hojediade]

Hey everyone.

I received a new mail from PS support telling us french players that PS received the agreement and will open for real money player on june 29th. That means we won't have much to wait but the problem remain the same to me. As stated Mo, i'm not playing for a living, but mostly to share good times with other forumers that became friends.
That's why i don't really know what's gonna be my next choice about playing OL poker.
I also agree with Bob words that european laws should be quite the same for all, cause we now live in an open market so why should i pay more fee than spanish players? Maybe i should move on to Barcelona afterall...

[kingmotan]

Hoje you have no idea what u're talking about man! hahaha
Do you know how many people would die to be in your position and play solely with french players? There are talks on our biggest romanian forum about connecting through some kind of proxy and getting a French IP so they can play on that skin lol.
Ppl all over the world are upset because french players are gone and you wanna move to Barcelona? No way man! On June 29 you should start grinding on PS and get rich, that's how easy it is!!!