Microgame surrenders French licence
Italian network operator had yet to launch in regulated market.
Microgame, the Italian company behind the People’s Poker Network, has handed back its French licence to regulator ARJEL.
It had been licensed to offer poker and sports betting since early last year, but was yet to go live with either its People’s Poker or People’s Bet brands.
Microgame is performing well in the Italian market, where it ranks second for cash game traffic behind PokerStars, but follows TitanBet in withdrawing from France. It gave no reason for its decision.
Both sports betting and cash poker were shown to have declined in ARJEL’s recent fourth-quarter results, the former experiencing a 23% year-on-year drop in amounts wagered.
The numbers reported prompted the regulator to form a committee to investigate more effective methods of regulation.