Legislation Lures Legal French Online Gamblers
A change in French online betting laws has led to a surge in revenues during the 2010 World Cup which online gambling operators plan to maintain.
A new French online gaming law, put into operation in early June, saw profits for French online gaming increase dramatically during the South African 2010 World Cup. The French authorities are claiming revenues of 107 million euro’s, stating that 70 percent came from football betting.
During June, after the legalisation, around half of the estimated online gamblers (approximately 1.2 million French people) used legal gambling websites. This is in contrast to before the legislation when two thirds of the gross annual gambling revenue was received from illegal gaming, generating 3-3.5 billion euro’s annually.
In France previously, all legal online betting passed through the state run monopolies, Paris Mutuel Urbain (PMU) and Francaise des Jeux. The legalisation of online sports betting in France was aimed to encourage gamblers to use legal sites.
Companies in the online gambling market are exploring new ways in which to encourage the growth of online gambling within the French community as well as keeping the new recruits attracted during the World Cup. Isabelle Parize, vice-chairman of Mangas Gaming, parent of the BetClic website states, "It is well known that a large amount of players come in to bet on these big events and get out right after."
New operators have been keen to stand out from the competition for online gamblers in the wake of the gambling surge with reports that 40.6 million euro’s was invested in advertising. This enormous spend could see media groups emerging as the real front runners in this developing market.
The former monopoly on horse race betting, Paris Mutuel Urbain extended its repertoire into other sports after the legislation and accounted for one third of the 40.6 million euro’s. The lesser known Austrian group Bwin is said to have invested more money that the other former monopoly Francaise des Jeux in a bid to break into the expanding market.
Operators from the poker industry claim they are at a disadvantage as gamblers cannot play on ".com" websites that are outside of France. Lorien Pilling, from GBGC states, "Obviously, each individual country's players are restricted to their markets, which could damage the online poker business model." The legalization of online poker was agreed at the end of June.
"It could be a problem for the poker industry if all these markets break down into individual countries. It ruins the benefit of having a pool of players across Europe."
