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A court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, France has handed Patrick Partouche, the chairman of French Groupe Partouche, a 12-month suspended prison sentence and a 40,000 Euro on 15th March, for his involvement with Cyprus-registered online poker site, Poker770.com.

By working with the non-French online poker site, Partouche violated French gaming laws prohibiting access to French online gaming customers which France reserves only for its state-owned online gaming monopolies.

The court also fined the company Partouche International, a subsidiary of Groupe Partouche which is based in Belgium, 150,000 Euro for its online gaming activities targeting French players.

Two other people associated with Poker770.com were additionally fined 40,000 Euro, with similar suspended sentences by the court.

All three have appealed the judgment. Partouche's lawyers declined to comment on the court decision.

Contrary to European Union (EU) law which gives EU-based companies access to do business anywhere in the EU, France has been aggressively prosecuting companies who are based outside of France for taking French customers away from their online monopolies and reducing monopoly revenues.