France passes new legislation for online gambling.

We have in the past been reporting the progress of various European countries in their quest to fulfil the requirements of the EU as far as online gambling is concerned and France has been one of those countries that have been procrastinating; up until now that is. The French Parliament has now ended the monopolistic situation of state controlled Parimutuel Urbain and Française des Jeux and the market will open up to other operators. Several online casino operators such as Paddy Power and Bwin have already prepared the ground for entry into the market but we shall almost certainly see more ventures being announced now that the situation is clarified. A key element of the legislation is that operators must have a license issued in the country but the requirement to be based in France has been dropped following criticism from the EU. France is however not making it cheap by levying a 7.5% tax on sports bets and 2% on poker which will supposedly be used to create a fund to tackle gambling addiction. Shortly after the announcement of the new legislation, French firm Mangas concluded a shirt sponsorship deal with Italian football giants Juventus through their subsidiary Betclic, something which is still not allowed in France.