French Court Orders ISPs To Block Poker SitesStanJames and Betfred Among Companies Targeted by French Regulator Through Court |
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Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in France have been ordered by a French court to block access to unlicensed poker and gambling websites.
The move was instigated by regulator Arjel against Orange France, SFR, Bouygues Telecom, Free, Numericable, Auchan Telecom and Darty who were ordered to block consumers access to sites including British bookmakers and poker site operators Betfred and StanJames.
The ISPs argued that filtering was difficult to set up, was inefficient, would simply see websites move elsewhere, would slow the network and could lead to blocking legal sites but Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris found in favour of Arjel and the ISPs could face fines of up to €10,000 for each day of non-compliance.
The gaming industry-supported Right2Bet organisation opposed the move saying, "The ruling is another kick in the teeth for French consumers still fuming from the recent legislation which has failed to provide them with an open and fully competitive gambling market.
“The idea that in this day and age, a leading country like France can begin censoring the internet is difficult to comprehend, yet such is the desire of Arjel and others to protect local providers, the PMU and FDJ, that these backwards measures are a reality.”
The ruling is open to appeal.
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