French open up online gambling market

A French bill that would end a state monopoly on online gambling and allow privately owned websites to offer bets on poker, soccer and horse racing went under discussion in parliament on Wednesday. France has been under pressure from the European Union and from private gaming firms to open up a market worth billions of euros to competition. An estimated 3 million French people illegally use gambling websites based abroad. “We have chosen a middle way which I think is just and efficient, a controlled opening up of the market,” Budget Minister Eric Woerth told parliament. “I want to put an end to these parallel universes. I want to put an end to the jungle of illegal sites,” he said. As things stand, the only legal operators of online gambling in France are two state-owned concerns, the PMU for horse racing and the Francaise des Jeux for lotteries and other casino games. Woerth has said the state made over 5 billion euros (4.6 billion pounds) per year from gambling on the internet, at licensed cafes and at the racing tracks. Under the proposed new law, private firms which obtain a permit from a newly created regulator would be allowed to set up websites offering bets on games of skill like poker, sports contests and horse racing. Bets on games considered too addictive and lacking in an element of skill, like one-armed bandits, will not be allowed. State-owned Francaise des Jeux will also retain its monopoly over Lotto under the law. Woerth has not said how much the changes would boost state coffers and a government source said that government could raise about 1.5 billion euros per year from taxes on online betting. ADDICTION Top soccer clubs have been pushing for the law to be changed so that they can offer fans opportunities to place bets on matches via their websites. Advertising for private online gambling firms is illegal under the existing sytem but clubs have found ways to get around that, creating absurd situations. For example, seven-times Ligue 1 winners Lyon had their players wear shirts advertising online betting sponsors during matches abroad but not in France, even though the matches were all shown on French TV. The government says its bill will shield punters from unscrupulous offshore firms which allow minors to gamble and have no safeguards against addiction. But critics from both the left-wing opposition and the ruling UMP have warned that the addiction problem could worsen. “This bill will lead to a boom in the number of gaming websites on offer and, even more dangerously, an exponential rise in the number of users who will be lured by advertising,” said Socialist legislators Michele Delaunay and Valerie Fourneyron, who are also doctors. The opposition Socialist Party also accuses the government of seeking to favour the interests of several business leaders close to President Nicolas Sarkozy, who have stakes in gambling firms or plans to set up betting websites. “That is ridiculous,” said Jean-Francois Lamour, a UMP legislator who has worked on the bill. “This law was not conceived to please the new operators but to impose order on websites that are illegal but are already active in France,” he said. (Additional reporting by Laure Bretton and Estelle Shirbon)