Online Casino Style: News - French Market Analysis

09/04/2010		Online Casino Style - News: French Market Analysis - 2
Home History Games News Dictionary		continued from French Market Analysis - 1 One study by a consulting group called Precepta reported that the French internet gambling market was worth approximately 2.3 to 3.1 billion euros in 2009. Of that number, only about €700 million of the gambling was legal; the rest was money being sent offshore to illegal and foreign online casinos. The same firm reevaluated this year following the liberalization of the industry, and said that the sector is fast growing, said to be worth as much as €4 to €6 billion by the end of 2013. One of the leaders in the new market could well turn out to be online poker, said one expert. Francis Merlin, known in the internet gambling industry for his insights to the workings of the machine, said that the single game alone could bring in as much as €300 million in France. By next year, that number will likely jump to €500 million. But the casinos are in no big rush, as they have five years to make it or break it before their newly assigned licenses to operate expire. The Authority to Regulate Online Gambling (ARJEL) has given away 26 such licenses, so far allowing sports betting, horse racing and online poker; the regulations have not yet been laid out for internet casino operation in France. For now, French players looking to enjoy the likes of traditional online casino games like roulette, bingo and blackjack will continue to have to find their amusement elsewhere. Spread betting, as well, is deemed illegal. And only the online sector is working through the changes, as no alterations were made to the laws that govern the land-based casinos. The French monopoly on brick-and-mortar establishments is still in place. Some believe that the legalization will diminish the use of offshore/illegal online gambling sites, better protecting players from unauthorized domain names that could well pose a danger. Still, only time will tell, as the cost to play at the unlicensed sites was still around 40 percent lower than the legal sites, and many offer better odds, as well as game (like blackjack) that are illegal in France. "There will always be a black market and I think we have to be pragmatic about this. The successful regulation will be the one that catches as much of the black market as possible," said Tim Phillips, a spokespersom for Betfair.com. "But our view of the French regime is that it doesn't catch half of the online gambling activity." The whole of the Herald article can be found at www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10667793

09/04/2010

Online Casino Style - News:
French Market Analysis - 2

continued from French Market Analysis - 1

One study by a consulting group called Precepta reported that the French internet gambling market was worth approximately 2.3 to 3.1 billion euros in 2009. Of that number, only about €700 million of the gambling was legal; the rest was money being sent offshore to illegal and foreign online casinos. The same firm reevaluated this year following the liberalization of the industry, and said that the sector is fast growing, said to be worth as much as €4 to €6 billion by the end of 2013.

One of the leaders in the new market could well turn out to be online poker, said one expert. Francis Merlin, known in the internet gambling industry for his insights to the workings of the machine, said that the single game alone could bring in as much as €300 million in France. By next year, that number will likely jump to €500 million. But the casinos are in no big rush, as they have five years to make it or break it before their newly assigned licenses to operate expire. The Authority to Regulate Online Gambling (ARJEL) has given away 26 such licenses, so far allowing sports betting, horse racing and online poker; the regulations have not yet been laid out for internet casino operation in France.

For now, French players looking to enjoy the likes of traditional online casino games like roulette, bingo and blackjack will continue to have to find their amusement elsewhere. Spread betting, as well, is deemed illegal. And only the online sector is working through the changes, as no alterations were made to the laws that govern the land-based casinos. The French monopoly on brick-and-mortar establishments is still in place.

Some believe that the legalization will diminish the use of offshore/illegal online gambling sites, better protecting players from unauthorized domain names that could well pose a danger. Still, only time will tell, as the cost to play at the unlicensed sites was still around 40 percent lower than the legal sites, and many offer better odds, as well as game (like blackjack) that are illegal in France.

"There will always be a black market and I think we have to be pragmatic about this. The successful regulation will be the one that catches as much of the black market as possible," said Tim Phillips, a spokespersom for Betfair.com. "But our view of the French regime is that it doesn't catch half of the online gambling activity."

The whole of the Herald article can be found at
www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10667793