France and Germany...any news?

CompatiblePoker · #1 12-31-2006, 01:26 AM

Has anyone been following the developements with France and Germany in regards to the banning of online gambling? There doesnt seem to be any threads going around.

Last I heard it wasn't looking good but haven't read any news pieces as of late. Anyone got any good links to sites following it?

Thanks

massacrator · #2 01-01-2007, 12:55 PM

France is going to ban like USA :

- Our provider will warn their customers about the dangers of online gambling and the fact that these sites are illegal in France

- French bank will block online winnings

- Advertisement for illegal sites will be illegal too.

Of course :

- the poker players will continue to play, they can use Neteller to withdraw their winning
- i believe they will not attack the players themselves
- nor the online community like clubpoker.net (6000 members)

The game of poker is becoming very popular in France, we have the WPT, WSOP, EPT @ TV, and Poker is just becoming legal in Casinos.

I dont know if PartyPoker will refuse french players in the following weeks, but that a strong possibility.

Laurent

LeapFrog · #3 01-01-2007, 01:34 PM

FWIW PokerPages had the following brief article 2 weeks ago:

http://www.pokerpages.com/poker-news/new...bling-29415.htm

[ QUOTE ]

Federal German states met this week and decided to postpone their decision whether to ban online gambling, including online poker.

If Germany decides to outlaw online gambling, then they would frustrate efforts by the European Commission to open up state-owned monopolies and liberalize and harmonize the European gambling market.

The majority of German states run lucrative lotteries and are keen to protect their monopoly position, according to the German paper Handelsblatt.

Three German states: Bavaria, Saxony and Hesse, have already instituted their own ban against commercial betting earlier this year. That was principally aimed against Austrian-based Bwin Interactive, whose German unit is the country's biggest commercial bookmaker.

Bwin welcomed today's postponement. "This decision is a very sensible one," said Steffen Pfennigwerth, owner of Bwin in Germany, a 50 per cent joint venture with Austria's Bwin Interactive.

Pfennigwerth added, "The states will now have sufficient time to develop a legal framework for the German betting market in accordance with European law and the constitution."

[/ QUOTE ]

davmcg · #4 01-01-2007, 03:28 PM

As far as France is concerned William Hill actually pulled out of sponsoring the European Poker awards last month because they were held in Paris and they felt that there was a chance that their representatives could be arrested.

solucky · #5 01-01-2007, 05:32 PM

not legal in germany but popular and tolerated " so far ", guess they fight against BWIN first. If germany wins against europe than poker is the next.

Richas · #6 01-01-2007, 07:50 PM

[ QUOTE ]
As far as France is concerned William Hill actually pulled out of sponsoring the European Poker awards last month because they were held in Paris and they felt that there was a chance that their representatives could be arrested.

[/ QUOTE ]

source please?

I think this is BS - online poker is legal across the EU and pretty sure to remain so for the foreseeable.

CompatiblePoker · #7 01-02-2007, 12:00 AM

So the major threat is publicly held sites closing down similiar to what is happening in the US, while some of the private sites will continue to accept French players?

I would think France and Germany would be in the same boat with Neteller if the bans go through. Neteller will act as if they were under the law and stop taking gambling transactions from those countries?

Thanks

adsman · #8 01-02-2007, 08:09 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As far as France is concerned William Hill actually pulled out of sponsoring the European Poker awards last month because they were held in Paris and they felt that there was a chance that their representatives could be arrested.

[/ QUOTE ]

source please?

I think this is BS - online poker is legal across the EU and pretty sure to remain so for the foreseeable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Italy blocked most online sites over a year ago.

LeapFrog · #9 01-02-2007, 01:34 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As far as France is concerned William Hill actually pulled out of sponsoring the European Poker awards last month because they were held in Paris and they felt that there was a chance that their representatives could be arrested.

[/ QUOTE ]

source please?

I think this is BS - online poker is legal across the EU and pretty sure to remain so for the foreseeable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Italy blocked most online sites over a year ago.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe they that it is now legal, at least according to a few articles I have read -- PokerPages again, it is after all 2nd only to the Times [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I have seen this in a few others places as well:

http://www.pokerpages.com/poker-news/new...enses-29425.htm

[ QUOTE ]

Seen as yet another indicator towards liberalization of gambling restrictions in Europe, the Italian government has announced that it will auction off 17,000 licenses for betting shops, kiosks, casinos as well as for online casinos, poker rooms and sportsbooks.

[b]This is in preparation for January 1st, when all Italians will be able to legally play online poker.[b]

[/ QUOTE ]

davmcg · #10 01-03-2007, 10:05 AM

I was at the awards and asked why William Hill were not sponsoring - they sponsor the European Rankings and sponsored the awards in 2005 - I was told by one of the organisers that these concerns were the reason they pulled out. Remember WillHill also have racing and sportsbet operations, so their reps might be concerned about these. Whether or not they are over-reacting is another matter.