Europoker Fiasco Highlights Challenges Facing French iPoker Market

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Friday, October 24th, 2014 | Written by Lucy Brown

In 2010, France legalized online gambling but a restrictive ring-fenced market combined with high rates of taxation meant revenues began contracting just one year later, and by 2013 online poker revenues had fallen by 13% to €258 million compared to 2012.

Needless to say, times are tough for professional poker players living in France, and recently times have gotten even tougher after online poker room Europoker.fr officially closed its doors on September 26th, leaving its customers in the dark as to the fate of their online bankrolls and bonuses.

Ongame France migration failed

After Bwin.fr’s poker network merged with the partypoker France network last month, the new site moved its operation away from the Ongame network, leaving the network woefully short of skins. As a result, Europoker.fr felt compelled to also shift its site, in its case from the Ongame France network to iPoker France, but the move eventually fell through leading to the current situation in which the site cannot meet its financial obligations.

EPMEDIA files for bankruptcy

EuroPoker parent company EPMEDIA has already filed for bankruptcy in a French court, which has subsequently moved to examine the company’s assets and liabilities in order to move the claims process forward. Included in the claimants list are the names of Europoker.fr players seeking to have their accounts refunded, and stepping into the situation is the French online gaming regulatory authority ARJEL, whose mandate includes consumer protection and ensuring online companies honour their commitment to refund player balances.

According to estimates, Europoker.fr poker players have between €300,000 and €500,000 segregated in corporate accounts, while the company’s procedure for dealing with a further €200,000 owed to its customers in the form of bonuses, rakeback and other loyalty rewards remains unclear for now. However, ARJEL’s stipulation that all earned bonuses should be considered as full-value credit to players’ accounts means that EPMEDIA may not have enough money to reimburse players. Addressing such a scenario, ARJEl has said it will appoint a Judge-Commissioner to oversee the liquidation service and has now posted a FAQ on the Europoker situation, stating:

“To date, this hypothesis has not been established. In the event that [this circumstance] would come to be, the trust agreement provides — to ensure full equality between players, small or large — that a payment will be made in proportion of assets due to players.”

ARJEL to keep players updated

Whilst the turmoil continues with players unable to access their accounts, ARJEL has informed affected players that it would keep them updated via its website. ARJEL also said it had sent a registered letter to French trust company Equitis Management, who will now manage the financial dealings, in much the same way that the Garden City Group (GCG) did in dealing with the US Full Tilt Poker reimbursement process. Commenting on the situation, Elbert Pruitt from cardschat.com, wrote:

“Although the EuroPoker situation may lack the generally scandalous nature of the Full Tilt fiasco, readers here who applied for refunds through Garden City Group may be experiencing a bit of déjà vu. Not surprisingly, France’s procedures for handling the EuroPoker matter were put into place after their own investigation of Full Tilt, and ARJEL will similarly provide a website to keep claimants up to date.”

ARJEL angers players

ARJEL President Charles Coppolani had earlier called for a meeting with France’s poker players on Octber 22nd, to discuss the worrying state of online poker in the country, and in particular the troubling situation with Europoker.fr. However, Coppolani has since pulled out of the scheduled meeting, causing a great amount of anger and consternation amongst French poker players who continue to believe their game is being dismissed by the ARJEL President.

Since taking up office, Coppolani has consistently presented an ambivalent at best attitude towards poker, and has speculated that France’s online poker market may have simply “reached its peak,” and that the game “is now a little out of fashion.” As Coppolani explains:

“ARJEL’s objective was to turn the illegal offer into a legal, regulated and safe one for players, and here I think we reached our main goal. However, on a global scale the market did not meet the operator’s expectations.”

Unattractive French online poker market

France is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and may be blessed with incredible history and stunning architecture, but its online poker market is one of the ugliest on the planet. A ring-fenced market reducing player liquidity, together with an extortionate 37% tax rate has meant the country’s market has been severely hampered, with almost half of France’s online players preferring to play on unlicensed, unregulated sites.