France Pro-Online Gambling

September 30, 2007

Many have been reporting lately that France is against online gambling and wants to see it banned completely from the country. However, according to French Minister Eric Woerth, this is not the case. Woerth recently sat down with Agence France Presse, and told them that the French government is not against online gambling, they are just against online gambling that is not regulated.

France has been battling the European Union as they are upset that they have been “denying free trade” due to their stance on online gambling. In fact, they were told that they will be sued by the European Court of Justice if they don’t make some serious changes by October 29th.

France is meeting this week in Brussels to discuss allowing private online gambling companies to take bets from French citizens, but it would have to be clear who those companies were. They will not allow just anyone to come into their country, they want them to be registered and regulated, and they want them to have an office in their country.

Then in mid-October there is another meeting to discuss how their model of online gambling can be changed so that it meets EU standards and allows cross border competition, while still staying true to the French idea of online gambling. There will be several companies in attendance – such as Barriere, Tranchants, and Francaise de Jeux.

Up until now France has discouraged its citizens from partaking in online gambling but has not made it illegal for them to do so. It has cracked down on the licensing of companies, but online gambling is not actually illegal for its citizens.