Discussions on potential formats to regulate online casino in France are raging among gambling stakeholders ahead of the government’s consultation talks planned for next week. The date and time of the talks are not yet known, but timing will be key, especially with the online operators of the country’s online gambling trade body AFJEL keen to pass legislation as part of this year’s budget.
Indeed, one of the leitmotifs of the coverage is the insistence by the French casinos’ trade group Casinos de France that it will take its time in considering and deliberating all the key issues surrounding the topic after it succeeded in getting the government to withdraw its online casino amendment last weekend.
As CdF CEO Philippe Bon told Gaming&Co, “technical solutions are complex and tax revenues will take time” while CdF VP Fabrice Paire told French media the topic should be discussed calmly, without taking hasty decisions and that talk from online operators of reintroducing the amendment as soon as possible in parliament was not realistic.
Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin also told French media that it was vital “the government does not make mistakes” when regulating the vertical and Bon added that CdF was open to potential online casino collaborations with AFJEL members, but had so far not received any proposals from the trade body.
Within that context, one model that is often mentioned by industry sources would see AFJEL’s online groups operate the digital offerings of land-based casinos.
These would come with stringent conditions, such as a limited (i.e. small) number of licensed operators, high revenue levels generated in France or no illegal iCasino activity in the market in the past five to 10 years.
The projects would see a share of the online revenues going to the casinos, according to their size and scale, although a solution to compensate smaller, independent casino groups would also have to be found. That issue is key for CdF as it says online casino regulation would lead to a 30% drop in activity for land-based casinos and lead to closures and up to 15,000 job losses.
News of the online casino amendment 10 days ago caught industry observers by surprise, but with the authorities green lighting it just after Française des Jeux had closed its acquisition of Kindred Group, the more cynical among them could not help draw the conclusion that FDJ had decided the timing.
Speaking of FDJ’s acquisition of Kindred, AFJEL can now benefit from the lottery giant’s lobbying firepower. With the strategic aims of the likes of Betclic or Unibet and its parent FDJ now aligned, the amendment’s proposal of an open model of competition was ideally suited to online operators.
iCasino regulation has long been called for by stakeholders as a vast illegal market has developed since France’s OSB and poker regulations in 2010. As part of any regulatory project, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux will call for enhanced powers to continue going after unlicensed operators and the payment companies that enable the flow of funds in and out of the country.
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