Pokerstars launch shared pools between Portugal, France and Spain

May 23, 2018

Poker Players in Portugal are now able to play against French and Spanish players following Portuguese authorities green lighting the country’s participation and PokerStars is first off the mark, offering a shared poker pool between the three countries. “We have worked hard to become the first operator to bring the benefits of shared liquidity to […]

Last hurdle to Portuguese poker liquidity project cleared

February 20, 2018

Portuguese online poker fans could soon be joining those of France and Spain in a shared player project that has been in development for years following an agreement to share players by France, Spain, Italy and Portugal. France and Spain has already implemented their side of the agreement, with PokerStars the first operator into the […]

Pokerstars first to market with online poker pooled player solution for France and Spain

January 16, 2018

Using licenses from Spain and France, online poker provider PokerStars has become first to market with its shared player pools offer. Poker players across France and Spain can now challenge and play each other at PokerStars, which today (Tuesday) became the first online operator approved to offer a shared player pool between the locally licensed […]

Breakthrough indeed for european regulated online poker!

July 7, 2017

French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese regulatory authorities met in Rome Thursday to formalize and sign an agreement on the sharing of online poker liquidity. The purpose of this agreement is to strengthen cooperation and exchange of information between authorities in order to allow for the sharing of liquidity between authorized online poker operators, combat the […]

Resolution of poker liquidity problem in France just a signature away

October 2, 2016

Reports in the French media indicate that one of the problems hobbling the French online poker industry – a ring-fenced market that prohibits player sharing with other nations – could be resolved in the near future. Our  readers will recall that for some time now the French regulator ARJEL has been holding collaborative talks with other […]

French senate makes progress on shared online poker player pools

May 6, 2016

The patient but persistent lobbying of French regulator Charles Coppolani, chief of ARJEL, paid off this week when the French Senate approved amendments to the Digital Bill which clear the path for negotiations on player pool sharing with neighbouring jurisdictions which have similarly ring-fenced player pools. The amendments also deal with gambling dispute mediation and […]

Shared player pools back on the political table in France?

February 9, 2016

The French political and regulatory establishment certainly knows how to keep the overtaxed online poker sector on tenterhooks, especially when it comes to the oft-debated question of player pool sharing. Just weeks after it was reported that the shared player pools so essential for success in the sector have again been denied by French legislators […]

French politicians again stymie shared player pools in poker

January 27, 2016

Hopes that yet another attempt to persuade French lawmakers to allow online poker operators to access international player pools would succeed were dashed again this week when the French National Assembly voted against a proposed amendment to the nation’s gambling laws. The national regulator ARJEL and Emmanuel Macron, France’s Minister for the Economy, had submitted […]

French digital law draft leaves out shared playing pools for poker

October 15, 2015

The French regulator ARJEL will have been disappointed this week to see that the draft of the new and much-hyped Digital Republic law did not include permission for the sharing of player pools with other like-minded jurisdictions. High taxation and restricted player liquidity have continued to constrain the development of French online and mobile poker, […]

Online poker still battling in France

May 9, 2015

Q1-2015 stats from French regulator ARJEL continued to paint a disappointing picture of French online poker when released this week, reporting that average active weekly player numbers fell 6 percent to 246,000, down from a peak of 300,000 active players in 2011. * Gross gaming revenue for online poker declined 7 percent to Euro 61 […]