French online poker players are enraged on their government and PokerStars.fr. In a country where there seems to be a strike going on every week, the poker players have been arranging their own "virtual sit-ins" at the online tables.


The new license system for online gambling came into effect in France at the start of June, and PokerStars is one of the operators that were granted a license to offer their games inside the new French market via their Pokerstars.fr site. However, permits and taxes collected by the government are so expensive that Pokerstars.fr were forced to increase the rake to an untolerable level for the players.

This has prompted hundreds of French players to give protest by arranging "virtual sit-ins" at the cash tables on Pokerstars.fr. Players are logging in and immediately sitting out, meaning the games are not rolling and no rake is generated. Some players have been seen sitting out at 20 tables simultaneously.

PokerStars' founder and major owner Isai Scheinberg defends his company's policy by saying the French site actually loses money for PokerStars because of the heavy tariffs and taxes. Scheinberg is quoted as saying he wants to talk to the French gaming regulatory board ARJEL about lowering the payments to a reasonable level.

Source: Flop Turn River.