Welcome to France: On Tuesday, France opened its online gaming market and awarded 17 licenses to 11 providers.

The French state monopoly on gambling is based on a law dating from the 16th Century and the date of opening the market is not random at the start of the World Cup, but was chosen deliberately in order to act effectively against illegal betting websites. If an online gambling company offering their services on the French market without a license, fines are now vulnerable due. Bwin, BetClic and Everest Poker belong to the companies that have received a license.

“Revenue from sports betting in France could be doubled by the licenses in the next three years,” said Jean-François Vilotte, president of the French authority for the regulation of online casino gaming.

The Wall Street Journal has more info.

Party Poker Big Game: The British were happy yesterday, as on Channel 5 at 11:55 pm the first episode of the Party Poker Big Game was broadcast IV. The series consists of 16 episodes with a length of an hour, which will be broadcast every week on Wednesdays. If you do not know what the “Big Game” – these are a 48 hours of permanent cash game, which was recorded in April in London. At this event, held at the Le Ambassadeurs Club, took some of the biggest names in part of the poker scene.

PokerNews owner Tony G, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Justin Bonomo, Isaac Haxton and Luke Schwartz are only introduced to the players who participated in this marathon cash game. The players had the opportunity at the Big Game herauszuwählen their opponents, which of course created for a lot of TV action. Take a look just below our preview.