‘We love the gossip’ — EPT’s Cédric Billot on Paris, Prague…and where the tour goes next
As you have probably read elsewhere, the EPT this week reluctantly announced the cancellation of its trip to Paris scheduled for February 2025. The political situation in France, and specifically the inability of legislators to agree to an extension of licenses for Paris gaming clubs (“Clubs de Jeux”), meant that PokerStars had no option but to put the festival on ice.
The news broke during a record-setting EPT Prague Main Event, and was greeted by widespread and heartfelt disappointment. Paris had become an immediate favourite among EPT players and staff alike and had seemed set to become a fixture on the poker calendar for many years to come.
PokerStars is optimistic, however, that this is merely a postponement rather than a permanent cancellation. As soon as the French legislature resolves its crises, there is every reason to hope that licensed and correctly organised poker can return.
That will mean EPT Paris can come back too.
“One hundred percent,” confirms Cédric Billot, PokerStars Associate Director of Live Events, when asked if the event will return as soon as the licensing issue is resolved.
‘PURE SPECULATION’
Billot also took the opportunity to address recent gossip concerning the absence of Cyprus and Prague from the recent announcement of EPT destinations for 2025.
“We have only announced the EPT up until Barcelona,” Billot says. “Everything after Barcelona is open. Just refresh the Blog every two days and you will see updates. The EPT team hasn’t announced anything else.”
He adds: “We love that the players gossip about the EPT. It shows the interest. The players, the dealers, saying, ‘We’re going here, we’re going there.’ I LOVE this. They love the EPT, they want to know where we’re going!
“But everything you guys have heard about anything after Barcelona EPT is pure speculation. ‘We don’t go to Prague.’ ‘We go to Lisbon.’ This is pure speculation.”
A postponement rather than a cancellation: There are high hopes EPT Paris will return
ADDRESSING THE GOSSIP
Whenever apparent vacancies pop up on the EPT calendar, the rumour mill starts grinding the gossip and EPT watchers begin discussing potential destinations. But it’s an extremely complicated process to find a suitable city to host an EPT. Though the EPT has refined its requirements through the years, there’s still a fairly comprehensive checklist of stipulations to host a festival of this size.
“It’s very difficult for the EPT to find amazing destinations which tick all the boxes, or as many boxes as we want,” Billot says. “Venue location. Accessibility. Availability. Size of the venue. Regulation goes without saying. Regulation of live poker, regulation of online poker. So many boxes to tick for us, which makes the list of potential cities and venues shrink.”
These demands come from across the business. The PokerStars broadcast team needs to ensure the space is big enough for its feature table set and back-up operation, for example, and there needs to be a reliable technical set-up to support this. Talk to anyone on the TV team, and they’ll talk about “power infrastructure”, “capacity” and “cable runs”, as well as access for unloading all the many trucks full of equipment.
Venues need to be big enough to host the gallery, the comms room, an interview room. Modern broadcast set-ups often have multiple LED screens built into walls or arches; there needs to be opportunity to add EPT branding that compliments existing venue features.
The PokerStars Live team needs to ensure there is suitable accommodation for the number of players expected to attend, and that it is of an agreeable level. PokerStars has long prioritised its player experience, particularly focused on its online qualifiers, which means hotels need to be close by and of a high standard.
‘IF IT’S NOT AMAZING, WE WAIT’
Meanwhile, the surrounding area needs to offer opportunity for the kind of off-the-felt activities that helps turn EPT festivals into viable vacation destinations for players’ partners and families. It’s an unavoidable part of tournament poker that players get knocked out. They need to have something to do in the downtime.
Space, of course, is also of huge importance to the poker operation. The EPT is far more than just the Main Event, and tournament fields for the flagship €1K events can now run into several thousand entries. There are mechanisms in place to allow bigger fields than a venue’s strictest capacity — multiple starting flights being the most obvious — but no operator ever wants to turn players away.
The EPT is also deeply reluctant to wedge tables too tightly together. Ample floor-space is therefore hugely valuable and is the reason hotel conference facilities or purpose-built exhibition spaces have largely replaced casino buildings as the most common poker-tournament venues. But not every city has such appropriate spaces, much less rooms of this size that can also secure a gaming license.
“We could have gone to many places, but Julien [Liarte, EPT Business Development Manager], myself, the whole EPT crew, if we are not sure it’s going to be amazing, we wait,” Billot says.
Billot, left, in conversation in Monte Carlo with Julien Liarte, the EPT’s Business Development Manager
REGULATION IS A CRUCIAL FACTOR
Of course, it is often local gaming laws and the state of online poker regulation that are the crucial factor. The law of the land is the difference between a viable potential destination and a non-starter. As the leading online poker brand for more than two decades, PokerStars has built excellent relationships with key figures in every country, and it also has an industry leading legal and compliance teams of its own.
But the gaming landscape is fluid in various jurisdictions. It can change dramatically from one year to the next. PokerStars has previously hosted successful events in places such as Australia and Macau, for instance, but can do so no longer. Many Scandinavian countries have restrictive regulations; the USA tends to legislate state-by-state, with land-based casino chains often holding sway.
Even established destinations with long associations with gaming, such as Monte Carlo, require operators to abide by certain local rules. It is simply never an option to operate amid any shades of grey. PokerStars is clear about that.
“I would love to go to Amsterdam,” Billot says, by way of example. “PokerStars is not licensed in the Netherlands anymore, so unfortunately, because of the online situation, we cannot go to the Netherlands. If the online landscape changes, boom, we’re going to look into it. But it’s not going to be a snap in two months.”
‘THE GRAND SLAM TENNIS FORMAT’
Over the past few years, the ultimate ambition is to establish a set list of perfect destinations that work for all areas of the business, as well as for the EPT’s dedicated player pool.
“Kind of the Grand Slam tennis format,” Billot explains. “We’re trying to establish strong locations that are not going to change in the calendar.”
However, he adds: “Now of course we try to establish these strong destinations, but the business is evolving. This is the source of all the speculation over the last few months about Prague, about Cyprus, about everything. Prague is an amazing live event, but PokerStars as a business has exited the Czech Republic. So as much as live poker is amazing in Prague, we still have to make sure that wherever we go there is a link with the online PokerStars element. Therefore, as much as everyone loves Prague — I love Prague — we are of course sometimes looking at alternative countries.”
He continues: “It’s kind of a mix. We try to establish strong destinations, but sometimes even something which is very strongly established, regulation can change and therefore we might have to review it.”
EPT Prague is deeply loved by everyone associated with the tour
SURPRISES WILL COME
But the message from the PokerStars hierarchy is also clear: we want to bring our uniquely respected live events to as many suitable destinations as possible. We are always exploring potential areas for expansion and are in ongoing conversation with potential partners in viable markets across the world. As and when legislative uncertainty is resolved, PokerStars will always be keen to explore the possibilities of a new destination.
Current industry gossip regularly centres on Portugal, where regulations have changed since the two visits to Vilamoura in 2009-10. Germany and Austria remain enticing destinations too, but again a return there would depend on striking the correct agreement to adhere with local regulations.
As Billot says, gossip is fun, and it proves that the EPT remains talking about even as it enters its third decade. But until you hear it from the official sources, it’s just that: gossip. But rest assured, the EPT no doubt has plenty of surprises to reveal yet.
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