French crackdown

It seems not all countries are as amenable to gambling as the UK.

While Tessa Jowell and her cronies here are embracing gambling in all its forms, France has sided with the US in cracking down on internet gaming, and poker in particular.

While France directly opposes the US on many political hot potatoes, French lawmakers are following the US lead in enforcing strict rules in relation to online gambling, and recent developments in Paris back that up.

Another gaming executive has not only been arrested, but found guilty and sentenced. This time it’s Patrick Partouche, who is closely involved in Poker770, which sits on the iPoker network.

His company, Partouche International, is owned by Groupe Partouche, which owns numerous bricks and mortar casinos. However it is the company’s courting of French online poker players that has attracted legal attention.

Partouche was given a €40,000 fine and a 12 month suspended jail sentence at a court in Nanterre.

This legal activity follows on the heels of the arrests of Bwin employees in France last year.