French Online Gambling Regulator ARJEL Sues Seven ISPs to Block Unauthorized Sites

Less than two months after new French gambling laws went into effect, the national online gaming regulator Autorité de Régulation des Jeux En Ligne (ARJEL) is resorting to drastic measures to ensure that only approved sites are doing business in France: namely, a lawsuit against seven Internet Service Providers based in France for allowing access to unlicensed operators.  

ARJEL is requesting that the ISPs block access to sites such as Betfred and Stan James while ISPs are arguing that since companies such as these are located in European Union countries and/or countries with which the EU has economic and legal agreements on gambling, their right to operate within France is secure.  

Aside from basic and thorny issues of individual rights, ISP blocking of websites can cause many additional technical problems on a wide scale, including the slowing down of entire networks; plus, any big would-be provider of Internet casinos or online poker sites in France is provided with an easy out just by changing the domain name or registering a new domain name altogether.  

ARJEL is threatening to levy fines on the ISPs of €100 per day per website that is allowed to be opened in France, regardless of whether or not the website is specifically marketed to French customers.