France will finally open up its online poker market to the rest of the world.
The French senate finalized a bill this week that will allow the country to share its online poker liquidity with other European countries.
Previously the market had been restricted to just French players, which led to a precipitous decline in poker activity in the country.
That subsequently led to a massive exodus of players to unregulated sites in the French market.
Bill Set to Become Law in 15 Days
Under the new bill online poker operators will be able to seek reciprocal liquidity agreements with other EU members in order to share traffic.
Italy and Spain are among the countries that would be most likely be willing to share online poker traffic.
The French bill itself is a broad one that encompasses a variety of digital avenues including eSports, more transparent data, better protection for users and upgraded access to the internet.
French president François Hollande is expected to sign the bill into law within the next 15 days.
One of the major concerns about online poker in France was the potential for gambling addiction but the new bill addresses that with new measures to combat addiction.
Currently winamax.fr, PokerStars.fr, PartyPoker.fr and iPoker.fr operate in France but with considerably less traffic than the rest of the world.
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