Online Casino Transfer: News - Betfair to Delay French Initiative

05/26/2010		Online Casino Style: News Betfair to Delay French Initiative
Home History Games News Dictionary		While the recent passage of the liberalization bill for the French online gambling industry has undoubtedly resulting in a flurry of excitement, preparation and innovation as internet casinos find partners with whom they can apply for regulation in the nation, two well-respected brands in the market are taking it a bit slower. Both Betfair and Sportingbet have gone on record affirming that their management teams intend to enter the newly liberalized French internet gambling market, but for now, they are respecting the existing French law by continuing to refuse players from the country. While the old online gambling laws were hazy enough for savvy lawyers to defend the acceptance of French players into membership in offshore casinos, the new are quite clear in mandating that operation catering to French constituents requires a French license, gained through the national regulator, ARJEL. Only online gambling companies with such a license are legally permitted to offer gambling services to French residents. This is enough for Betfair, which released a statement this week saying that they would be pulling out of the French market until such time that appropriate licensing could be secured. Their press team expressed the desire of the company to do things right the first time so as not to screw up their chances of getting a coveted license on technical red tape, or because of not following the rules from the get-go. A similar statement was released by Sportingbet in relation to their online poker website Paradise Poker, which will no longer accept players from either France or Italy due to regulation changes. We are looking very hard at the French market and how we might operate within the new licensed regime,” said Tim Phillips, Betfair’s director of European Public Affairs. “Though it's not impossible for a newcomer to create a commercially viable business, most projections show it will be very difficult to do so, given the proposed restrictions imposed on license holders.”

05/26/2010

Online Casino Style: News
Betfair to Delay French Initiative

While the recent passage of the liberalization bill for the French online gambling industry has undoubtedly resulting in a flurry of excitement, preparation and innovation as internet casinos find partners with whom they can apply for regulation in the nation, two well-respected brands in the market are taking it a bit slower. Both Betfair and Sportingbet have gone on record affirming that their management teams intend to enter the newly liberalized French internet gambling market, but for now, they are respecting the existing French law by continuing to refuse players from the country.

While the old online gambling laws were hazy enough for savvy lawyers to defend the acceptance of French players into membership in offshore casinos, the new are quite clear in mandating that operation catering to French constituents requires a French license, gained through the national regulator, ARJEL. Only online gambling companies with such a license are legally permitted to offer gambling services to French residents.

This is enough for Betfair, which released a statement this week saying that they would be pulling out of the French market until such time that appropriate licensing could be secured. Their press team expressed the desire of the company to do things right the first time so as not to screw up their chances of getting a coveted license on technical red tape, or because of not following the rules from the get-go. A similar statement was released by Sportingbet in relation to their online poker website Paradise Poker, which will no longer accept players from either France or Italy due to regulation changes.

We are looking very hard at the French market and how we might operate within the new licensed regime,” said Tim Phillips, Betfair’s director of European Public Affairs. “Though it's not impossible for a newcomer to create a commercially viable business, most projections show it will be very difficult to do so, given the proposed restrictions imposed on license holders.”