French authorities appear to be following the lead of their American counterparts with the announcement that a top online poker room is facing a ban on advertising
Media reports are that the French club, Le Salon des Ambassadeurs, has banned all images from one of the Internets’ most well-known poker rooms, Pokerstars at a tournament scheduled for the venue.
It appears the French are also are stepping up the offensive on online poker and online gambling in general. In September 2006 executives of sports betting site BWIN were arrested in the South of France under a version of the American Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
In another move that may be symptomatic of the ‘war’ on online gambling, the European Poker Tour (EPT) announced earlier this month that the popular Deauville portion of the tour was to be cancelled.
The tournament was scrapped at short notice, even though the EPT events in Deauville in 2005 and 2006 were well received.