Europe to follow USA Act about Gambling and poker tournaments may cancelled

In early January, the European Poker Tour announced that the French Open in Deauville was cancelled. The EPTs primary sponsor is PokerStars.com, the same site whose images, including photos featuring former World Series of Poker champion Chris Moneymaker, were recently banned from a tournament at a popular French real¬world cardroom, Le Salon des Ambassadeurs.

Lets start with the good news. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. In the matter of Internet gambling .. the Italians themselves are taking this wise advice by reversing previous policy. After reconsidering the rosy future of online gaming and the very substantial revenue to be gained from taxing it, the Italian government is no longer following the impractical U.S. model of throwing flimsy roadblocks in the face of an oncoming locomotive. By passing new legislation to regulate online gambling rather than prohibit or discourage it, Italy has now taken an eminently practice stance similar to that in the U.K.

As of this year, Italian citizens can legally gamble online, and their government now collects three percent of the generated income as taxes. The Italians being a sporting lot, something tells me that this amount will later (if not sooner) approach the GNP of some third-world nations. Meanwhile, the U.S. government has thumbed its nose at far, far greater gains to be had through a similar approach, and at a time when its annual budget deficit is soaring. Pass some of that wisdom-inducing pasta this way, please!

Meanwhile, the latest country to join the troubled list is France. In late February, PartyPoker.com announced it will no longer accept initial real money accounts from French players. An announcement posted at Party Gamings official Website said: With effect from 23 February 2007, PartyGaming will no longer accept wagers from customers based in France.

Fortunately for Partys bottom line, even the permanent loss of the French market - should it come to that - will represent a relatively small dip in the companys worldwide client base. Unlike the U.S. market, which made up a staggering eighty percent of the sites business before passage of the 2006 U.S. Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, French clients represent a small, single-digit percentage of the sites total activity.