The European Championship Of Poker (ECOP) Paris festival, scheduled for January 2-13, 2025, has been postponed until further notice. The postponement comes only 24 hours after PokerStars announced it was canceling the European Poker Tour (EPT) Paris festival that was scheduled for mid-February.
The ECOP Paris 2025 postponement is due to the uncertainty surrounding Paris’ gaming landscape. Casinos were banned in Paris in 1919 but several “gaming circles” operated in the French capital for years. In 2017, these gaming circles were shut down, only to reopen in 2019 as “Clubs de Jeux,” or gaming clubs. Strict regulations meant these clubs could only offer table games, excluding slots and roulette.
This experiment is scheduled to end on December 31, 2024, and was expected to be extended for another year. However, political instability in France has resulted in nobody in authority available to extend the experimental Parisian gaming clubs into 2025. If no decision is made before New Year’s Eve, reopening could take several months once France has a new Interior Minister in place.
Texapoker President Confirms Postponement of Paris Event
Due to the political situation in France and the scheduled closure of Parisian gaming clubs on 31 December, Texapoker is forced to announce the postponement of the first edition of the European Championship of Poker scheduled for 2-13 January 2025 at Club Circus Paris.
“It is with great sadness that we announce the postponement of the first edition of the ECOP, said Apo Chantzis, CEO of Texapoker. We wish the teams and management of the clubs every success in overcoming this human and financial crisis, which is beyond their control, on the eve of the New Year.”
“We can’t resign ourselves to the closure of the gaming clubs in Paris. We all gave so much to make this experiment a success, and it has been, added Thierry Bolleret, head of public relations at Club Circus Paris. “Unfortunately, it seems that our fate is to suffer the political instability of the moment, which is why we are reluctantly having to postpone the ECOP. We would like to thank all our customers and partners for this state of affairs, which is completely beyond our control.”
“The European Championship of Poker will, therefore, make its debut later this year with stops in Rozvadov (12 to 17 March), Sanremo (2 to 9 June), and Barcelona (10 to 16 November). More information on the postponement of the Paris stop will be announced at a later date.”
PokerNews to Live Report From the National Poker Series Aix-en-Provence (Jan. 24 to Feb. 2)
PokerNews‘ live reporting team was meant to be on the ground, bringing you all the action from the ECOP Paris 2025 festival. The postponement has scuppered those plans, but fear not—there will still be plenty of French poker action for you to enjoy in late January.
Our team will be at the Pasino Grand providing live updates, in French, from the National Poker Series Aix-en-Provence from January 30 through February 2. The schedule for this festival can be seen in the table below:
Senior Editor