French Back to Drawing Board

After submitting draft online gambling laws to the European Commission for review and approval in March this year, it seems the French Government has a few changed to make.

The Commission has knocked a number of the draft provisions on the head, most notably proposed low maximum payout amounts and limited consideration of operator satisfaction of other regulatory body requirements.

Eric Woerth, France's Minister of Budget, and the man at the helm of the new laws drafting and implementation, has said that the European Commission did not agree with the assertion that high payout rates can contribute to gambling addiction and have asked the French Government to furnish said evidence. The Government has commissioned a study in this area to back the inclusion of the provision but will have some difficulty convincing a skeptical European Commission of the necessity of the provision.

Some further consideration will need to be made in the new laws regarding the extent to which operators have already satisfied certain regulatory requirement imposed by regulators of other licensing jurisdictions.

The new laws, once given the stamp of approval by the European Commission, are expected to come into effect early 2010. The law will see the creation of a new regulatory body to oversee licensing and probity requirements for operators of online wagering, sport betting and poker. Casinos, lottery and other games of chance rather than 'skill', will be excluded from the new licensing regime on the grounds that they are considered to be too addictive.

French and International operators are already maneuvering to position themselves for consideration for a French Online Gambling license.