Poker News – Is it doom and gloom in France? Some might say so, since regulated online poker has been steadily declining in France since new regulations began in 2010.
According to the first quarter report released by France’s online gaming regulator ARJEL about the country’s online poker regulated market, the number of regulated cash game players is shrinking significantly.
Cash game traffic dropped by 19 percent year over year, and perhaps even more alarming was the 28percent decline compared to two years ago. ARJEL also shared its concerns about trends in the French market by implying poker operators “are experiencing considerable losses for yet another quarter,” with turnover declining from €72 million (2013 – Q1) to €65 million (2014-Q1) representing a loss of 10 percent.
Cash game traffic has also declined by 26 percent, based on a seven-day moving average of concurrent cash game seats filled, since temporarily peaking in the beginning of March according to a PokerFuse report. This decline can be partially attributed to seasonality with less players playing during the warm months of the summer.
