Earlier in May, there were regulatory news from France as well. The country’s Senate has approved three important amendments to the French online gambling law or else known as Digital Bill. One of the amendments called for the local gambling regulator – ARJEL, to be authorised to ink partnership agreements with other European Union member states and jurisdictions within the European Economic Area in order to be able to share liquidity for online poker.
If the proposed changes come into effect, ARJEL would be given the authority to provide gambling operators with Article 21 gaming licenses with the opportunity to allow their players to take part in verified circle games of poker with fellow players from countries within the EU and the EEA. Under the French online gaming law, Texas Hold’em and Omaha poker variants are the only two verified circle games in France.
Although the proposal is aimed at boosting proceeds from online poker operations, certain obstacles may prevent the success of any future shared liquidity agreements due to the fact that the French tax system differs in certain aspects from the ones in other EU and EEA countries. For instance, taxes from cash games are deducted pre-flop and on the flop, the turn, and the river.
Although the proposed changes seem to be favoured by the French Senate, they need to overcome a number of other legislative hurdles in order to come into effect. People with knowledge of the matter have suggested that if the amendments are signed as part of the country’s gambling law by the end of 2016, the first shared liquidity agreements could be inked early in 2017. What is more, Portugal and Spain are the first countries with regulated markets that may express interest in sharing online poker liquidity with France.
