French online poker site to expand into sports betting

04/06/2010

The French online poker provider of free poker play, NetBetPoker.fr has strengthened its appeal in the soon-to-liberated French gambling market through a sports betting white label deal with French betting provider France Pari.

Itechsoft Game, the owner of the online poker site, signed the agreement this week, which will enable to it to expand its offering with a free-play sports betting product, positioning it for further developments in the French market. Launch of the new product could be achieved before the end of April, a company spokesman revealed.

France Pari will additionally assist Itechsoft in its preparations to achieve licensing status in the liberated market from the French regulator, Arjel (Autorite De Regulation Des Jeux En Ligne).

The deal is the first in moves to expand the activities of France Pari, says chief executive Herve Schlosser, pointing out that this sort of activity enables it to participate in the business-to-business market in addition to its existing business-to-consumer action, thus increasing overall profitability.

France Pari gets around the current constraints of French law by offering a free-to-play service in which players are offered virtual tokens that can be used to bet on a variety of sports for the chance to win prizes. The firm, which has been active for the past two years, recently signed a two and a half year sponsorship deal with soccer club RC Lens.