French Gambler Sues Government Over Poker Sites: Defendant in MGM Suit Uses Condom Defense

A French gambler has sued the Government claiming it failed to prevent him from accessing online poker sites in that country. 

The 37-year-old from the city of Reims registered with the interior ministry last year to be voluntarily banned from casinos and online gambling sites, but was still able to access them, lawyer Emmanuel Ludot told AFP on Monday.

"It's all well and good to moralise about online games but we all know that they rely on the addiction and sickness of players," Ludot said.

France is one of the nations that has begun to regulate online poker sites over the past year.

In other legal news, the owner of the poker website excaliburpoker.com has filed a motion to dismiss the trademark infringement lawsuit filed against him by MGM Resorts International last week.   MGM Resorts named several domains in its suit, all of which closely resemble the company’s own properties, Excalibur among them.

Adam Majewski of McKinney, Texas insists he is not engaging in cyber squatting.

“Excalibur is not a distinctive mark,” Majewski’s court documents stated. “It was the sword of kings in the Arthur legends. Thousands of businesses use this name – Excalibur Bowling, Excalibur Taxi and even Excalibur Condoms.”

MGM claims in its lawsuit that the defendants are attempting to profit on MGM’s well-recognized name and its substantial investment over the years in advertising and promoting the brick-and-mortar casinos.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com