French Giants Combine In Barriere Poker.Fr Internet Poker Venture

Former French monopoly FdesJ and casino group Lucien Barriere team up

Two major French gambling companies have teamed up to take advantage of the newly liberalised French online poker sector.

The former state gambling monopoly Francaise des Jeux and land casino giant Lucien Barriere (which also runs the online casino LeCroupier outside France) have announced that their new online poker site servicing French players will be branded Barriere Poker.fr.

The new joint venture will see both firms invest eight million Euros in return for a 43.84 percent stake while the remaining 12.32 percent is to be controlled by Online Gaming 3D, which is a subsidiary of French cinema and video games developer MK2.

The domain is expected to go live in September 2010 targeting French players.
The Reuters news agency reports that a licence has been sought from the French regulator ARJEL and is expected before the end of June.