CyberArts has signed a deal with French lottery operator Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) to provide FDJ’s online poker product. CyberArts chairman Ken Arnold said his company and the French monopoly operator were committed to being live with a fully tested product on the first day of the new licensing regime at the start of next year, with a possible play-for-fun model being launched before then.
Arnold said the deal marked “a new second wave of internet gaming, led by large trusted providers who operate with government authority”.
“With poker being the most difficult and demanding product from a technical point of view, CyberArts is delighted to be supplying FDJ with its Foundation Poker product,” he added.
CyberArts recently provided the platform for the first operator to launch on a legal basis in Italy, Gioco Digitale, the two collaborating to meet the exhaustive technical requirements of the AAMS regulatory body.
The annoucements today coincide with the second of a series of conferences being held in May in France to debate the country’s upcoming regulation of online gaming hosted by French MPs involved in the draft regulation (more).
The seminar today examines the product offering that the forthcoming regulation will make available to French players. Issues being discussed include how a threat to incumbent monopolies can be turned into an opportunity for them, how EU states’ competitive status will be affected and the tax rates applicable to different types of gaming.
Senator and President of the Commission on Social Affairs Nicolas About will be chairing the event, and Éric Woerth, France’s Minister for Budget, will be present.
Categories: Technology
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can also leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
