Online poker in France has been causing quite a stir in the poker community for a while now because of the ARJEL, or the Autorite de Regulation des Jeux En Ligne. If you’re not savvy with French, then know that this only means ‘Authority of Regulation of Online Games’ – and of course, online poker is included. Basically, this is a gaming regulatory body that issues licenses to companies that hope to cater to the online gambling needs of the French. Before this, online gambling has been monopolized by the state in France. With the ARJEL, though, the French will have an opportunity to avail of the services of the biggest online gambling companies in the world, Full Tilt and PKR now included.

However, there are several issues that are still to be addressed, especially since the customers themselves aren’t exactly happy with the changes.

Poker Regulation

Different countries have different tolerance levels for online gambling. France has never been one of those that take a stance so rigid that they would outlaw online gambling entirely, but they’re one of those who choose to regulate it and keep their games to themselves. This has changed recently, with the institution of the ARJEL. France opened its doors to foreign online gambling companies after spending three years in state monopolized gambling. However, that’s not to say that the ARJEL is a gift from the gods. This regulatory body has its own issues.

First and foremost, its sole purpose is to sift through the sites and ensure that online gambling will be safe for the citizens. Because of this, a lot of the more popular online poker networks chose to wait for a while before they jumped on board. The requirements were simply insane and the guidelines too strict. But even that didn’t stop some networks, such as Pokerstars, Partypoker France and now Full Tilt and PKR. However, the people of France aren’t exactly happy with the ARJEL. For one thing, the new rules would limit them to playing only against their own countrymen on the licensed sites. Also, because of the licensing process which undoubtedly drained some dough from the coffers of the poker networks, some sites have decided to increase their fees so that they could cover the costs.

Full Tilt and PKR on board

Nine sites have already gotten their license from ARJEL, with Full Tilt and PKR being the most recent. The French can play on FullTiltPoker.fr and the license of Full Tilt is called Rekop. Now, if you’re one of those who took quite a while to figure out the significance of this word (like me) then let me enlighten you. Rekop is poker spelled backwards, quite clever, eh? Full Tilt now joins the ranks of Paddy Power, BetClic, Everest Poker, PokerStars, iPoker, Bwin, and more.