Online Casino Transfer: News - 'Start Over' Victory in France

02/08/2010		Online Casino Style: News 'Start Over' Victory in France
Home History Games News Dictionary		While the road to liberal legalization for the internet gambling industry in France has been anything but smooth, one small piece of resolution has been made this week with the announcement to the online casino market that existing companies will not be forced to shut down and clear out their rosters of French players before applying for a license to operate in the new legislation. The French legislation up for vote, though still very protectionist, has made at least one concession to the offshore gambling companies, rejecting the mandate of starting over from scratch. Though French online casinos, such as those owned by state-run monopoly Francaise des Jeux would have been able to keep on with their member rosters, companies based out of the country were faced with the possibility that they’d have to start from the bottom, clearing out all French player accounts and giving them a huge disadvantage compared to the French firms. That particular statute has now been abandoned by the Senate. The ruling came in this week as the new laws continue to be debated, with a bit of pressure applied from the upcoming World Cup football tournaments in South Africa. One of the first groups to report on the concession was that of iGaming France, which quoted the Senator Francois Trucy as having said that the finance commission refused to back that provision. : "The issue of the closure of French accounts is not in question; operators will be able to carry on working with French players between the law being passed and licenses being handed out,” Trucy was quoted as saying. There is still much to discuss before the draft law comes up for a vote, as successful license companied will be required to open up a French branch to their existing online casinos, with all French player accounts transferred to the new sites (designated with an .fr extention) before regulation will be granted.

02/08/2010

Online Casino Style: News
'Start Over' Victory in France

While the road to liberal legalization for the internet gambling industry in France has been anything but smooth, one small piece of resolution has been made this week with the announcement to the online casino market that existing companies will not be forced to shut down and clear out their rosters of French players before applying for a license to operate in the new legislation.

The French legislation up for vote, though still very protectionist, has made at least one concession to the offshore gambling companies, rejecting the mandate of starting over from scratch. Though French online casinos, such as those owned by state-run monopoly Francaise des Jeux would have been able to keep on with their member rosters, companies based out of the country were faced with the possibility that they’d have to start from the bottom, clearing out all French player accounts and giving them a huge disadvantage compared to the French firms. That particular statute has now been abandoned by the Senate.

The ruling came in this week as the new laws continue to be debated, with a bit of pressure applied from the upcoming World Cup football tournaments in South Africa. One of the first groups to report on the concession was that of iGaming France, which quoted the Senator Francois Trucy as having said that the finance commission refused to back that provision. : "The issue of the closure of French accounts is not in question; operators will be able to carry on working with French players between the law being passed and licenses being handed out,” Trucy was quoted as saying.

There is still much to discuss before the draft law comes up for a vote, as successful license companied will be required to open up a French branch to their existing online casinos, with all French player accounts transferred to the new sites (designated with an .fr extention) before regulation will be granted.