ARJEL, France’s gambling regulation entity, has released the figures for the 2013 financial report which describes the state of the online poker industry in the country and which shows a dramatic drop of 13%. This drop represents €258 million in comparison to the €297 million from 2012. Out of the total figures, ring games were down 18% while tournament revenues increased by 5%.

It seems the French online poker industry was not surprised by the results. Many of the current licensed operators in the French market have been demanding changes to the current law to allow France to pool its player base with other regulated European online poker markets like Italy and Spain.

Jean-Francois Vilotte, the former president of ARJEL, warned the industry a few months ago, “We have to pay attention to three things: First, that there is a sufficient number of games to be played, as the current regulation allows only Texas hold’em and Omaha. Second, that we carefully think about the liquidity aspect, especially if it refers to a single country. And third, taxation”.