The gambling industry in France has been in turmoil over the last few months. ARJEL, the French gambling regulator has received a lot of criticism over the way it has mismanaged the gambling industry in France. Online poker in France has declined significantly over the past 2 years and ARJEL has openly stated that the market will not recover and eventually fade out.
Events escalated over the past couple of weeks between the national gambling industry and French authorities and left the gambling industry in France reeling as both parties are yet to find a mutual solution. This turmoil will continue to hurt France’s gambling industry as PokerStars recently announced that it has decided to cancel the scheduled French Poker Series (FPS) in Paris.
PokerStars, the biggest online poker website in the world was scheduled to host the FPS on the 21st of November. The event was to take place at the Cercle Cadet, which is now closed indefinitely after the French Judicial Police (DCPJ) raided its premises on the 14th of October. The FPS is one of the biggest events in Paris and was expected to draw thousands of French players, as well as international poker players.
PokerStars has already received nominations for the FPS event as many players have qualified through satellite events and online qualifiers. The company was forced to cancel because the venue and its French partners responsible for running the tournament have now been restricted by the authorities. Cédric Billot, the President of the France Poker Series apologized to poker players in France and said that the current state of affairs with France’s gambling industry was unfortunate and due to the sudden closure of certain gambling rooms, PokerStars was left with no option but to cancel the event.
In a statement, Billot went on to say
We will propose some form of compensation to all the online qualifiers. We will also obviously help all the players who have qualified via live satellites. We are really sorry to be forced to cancel this FPS stop, but at the same time we still have some other great events for our players as the ones in Deauville, Namur, Prague, or even the French Championship of Online Poker (FCOOP).
Players who officially registered for the tournament at France’s PokerStars.fr will be compensated for the cancelled tournament. However, PokerStars is yet to confirm the time and amount of these reimbursements.
