La Française Des Jeux Wants its Online Poker Room

Submitted by: Kaishaku

La Française des jeux is now, thanks to a very good business year (best growth since 5 years : Sales of €10 billion and a growth of 8,6 % in bets), the second ranking world lottery in front of its Spanish rival, Loterias y Apuestas, and behind the Italian lottery Lottomatica. La Française des jeux is considering a takeover of the Camelot group, operator of the British national lottery and partner of La Française des Jeux for the Euromillions. If this happens, la FdJ could become the first ranking world lottery.

This news arrives in a particular context. In 2010, la FdJ will still have his monopoly on gambling, but the sports betting market will be open to concurrency at the beginning of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Now, and more important for poker, la FdJ has associated itself with the Barrière group, which already is the operator of some online casinos, to create an online poker room, which would be "une première" on France national territory. L'ARJEL, Online Gambling Regulation Authority, will have to ratify the future creation of a new company, to be born from this union, which will be operating this new online poker room.

To face the opposition of so many other sites already well established on French market, like Titan Poker or Everest Poker, Christophe Blanchard-Dignac, CEO of La Française des jeux said : "We are making a bet on loyatly". If this new poker room is able to attract to the tables the regular lottery customers of La FdJ's games and the casino players of Barrière's sites, French poker sharks will enjoy a new feasting grounds.

Everest Poker does not accept real-money players from the United States.

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