French players stage an online sit-in strike at PokerStars

Not everyone is enthusiastic about the liberalisation of the French gambling market, it appears.
 
Specifically, some online poker players resident in the country are peeved at the new dispensation and how it affects their action at the online poker giant PokerStars..
 
FlopTurn River.com reports that in compliance with the new regulatory regime managed by ARJEL, PokerStars obtained a French licence and created a PokerStars website solely for French players, excluding them from its more global action.
 
The site follows a similar regulatory model to Italy where only Italians can play on an Italian dedicated online poker site licensed by regulator AAMS.
 
French players are now apparently being subjected to increased rake costs…and they do not intend to take it lying down. The rebels are calling on their countrymen to boycott PokerStars.fr by staging a sit-in strike on the website and not playing, at the same time using chat facilities to renounce the increased rake.
 
Isai Scheinberg, a founder of PokerStars, has apparently addressed the poker players’ ire by explaining that the costs of running PokerStars mean that the parent company is losing money, and that he will illustrate this by financial numbers that show that the French venture is not generating revenue.
 
Scheinberg is reportedly working with the French management of the site and will be addressing the problems with ARJEL going forward in the hope that the obstacle to success of high licensing fees can be discussed.