Bill Discussed to Open Up
French Online Gambling Market
 October
9 - On Wednesday
a highly-anticipated bill
was discussed
in French parliament aimed at ending a state monopoly on online
gambling
and open the way for privately owned online gambling firms
to offer online poker, soccer and horseracing services in
France.
For France has been pressured by the European Union (EU) to open
up
its domestic gambling market which is estimated to be worth
billions of euros.
Currently it is estimated that over 3 million French citizens
gamble illegally on offshore-owned
and operated online gambling websites.
Said French Budget Minister, Eric Woerth, 'I want to put an end
to these parallel universes. I
want to put an end to the jungle of illegal online gambling
websites.
We have chosen a middle way which I think is just and efficient,
in the
form of a controlled opening up of France's online gambling
market.'
Up until now France's only legal online gambling operators have
been state-owned operations
PMU, which handles horseracing, and the Francaise des Jeux, for
lotteries and other games. According to Woerth,
France's gambling companies currently generate over 5 billion
euros a year.
If the bill is passed,
laws would be out in place allowing privately-owned online
gambling firms to apply to a newly created regulator for special
French online gambling permits
allowing them to set up websites offering games of skill like
poker, sports contests and
horseracing.
However, the new online gambling laws would still not permit
gaming firms to offer online casino games such as slots,
because they are not deemed to be 'games of skill'. And
Francaise des Jeux
will still legally retain its lucrative lottery monopoly.
Through online gambling regulation,
the French government is hoping to generate up to 1.5 billion
euros a year from taxes
levied on the popular internet activity.
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