Partouche Gets Fine and Suspended Sentence

Patrick Partouche, of the Groupe Partouche, was recently found guilty of lending his name to an online casino and poker website that is based offshore. On March 15th, le tribunal correctionnel de Nanterre sentenced him to a suspended prison sentence and a 40,000 euros fine for the site. Two of the website’s administrators also received fines and suspended sentences, and Partouche International was fined 150,000 euros as well.

Partouche was not allowed, according to the court, to lend his name to the online gaming site as he is a private operator, and private operators are not allowed to offer online gambling services. They said it did not matter that it was not on French soil, they said that they are not allowed to offer them anywhere.

Many want to know why, then, is Francaise des Jeux allowed to have an online gambling site when no one else is. Critics complain that not only is Groupe Partouche not allowed, neither is Groupe Lucien Barriere or Moloflor Loisors allowed to. They all have land based casinos, as does Francaise des Jeux, but yet they are not allowed online gambling but the latter is.

A syndicate of casinos – Syndicat des Casinos Modernes – has filed a complaint with the European Commission against the casino, saying that they should not be allowed to have an online site if no one else is. They say they are “abusing a dominant market position” and the advantage is unfair to all of the other casinos in France.
 

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