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.