The final vote was 299 to 223 in favor of legalizing and regulating the online poker industry in France. The landmark bill marks yet another country taking a stand on online poker, and online gambling in general, whether for or against it. We can only wonder when the US government will decide that the time has come to make their own decision on the matter.

The French bill places a 2% tax on online poker, and a 7.5% tax on sports-betting, and will also help make sure players are being treated fairly as only licensed businesses will be allowed to offer their product to French citizens. In the Daily telegraph, Budget Minister Francois Baroin said the following, “This text will allow us to progressively dry up the black market in online gambling by creating a legal offer which obeys the rules.”

France has always had a fairly strong poker culture, dating back before the poker explosion in 2003, and France was also the first non-US stop of the World Poker Tour, and it was the success and publicity of these events at the Aviation Club in Paris that helped spark the popularity of the game across Europe and the rest of the world.

Tags: french poker, legalizing and regulating the online poker

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