FRENCH GAMING COPS WANT TO TALK TO ONLINE GAMBLING LEADERS


March 13 should see some frank exchanges

The proposed meeting between industry executives and the French gaming police scheduled for March 13 is likely to be attended by some of the top executives in the business.

Gibraltar-based 888.com is the latest to issue a statement on the meeting, confirming that non-executive director and former chief executive John Anderson had been asked to attend the interview with the French gaming authorities. The statement emphasised that French action represented “an immaterial percentage of its business” and that it would continue to consult its legal advisers.

In December 888 cancelled a contract as sponsors of the Toulouse football club following pressure placed on the club and the operator by the French authorities. The Austrian betting group bwin has also experienced football sponsorship hassles which led to the detention last year by French police of two of its executives. The firm subsequently cancelled its sponsorship of a Monaco football club.

Media reports from Britain have already revealed that the European sportsbook Unibet’s senior management has also been asked to attend the interview with the French gaming police.

Last week (see previous InfoPowa reports), Party Gaming announced to affiliates that it would stop accepting any new real money accounts from French citizens, but the notification was then taken down without further explanation, and media enquiries on the subject have been ignored.

French politicians also passed a delinquency law this month with an apparently unrelated amendment seeking to disrupt the transfer of funds from French players to online gaming sites.

Sources close to Anderson have suggested that while he is respectful of the French authorities, he is also confident of the outcome and that his company’s activities fall under European Union legislation.

French online gambling suppliers and operators were active at this year's ICE show in London, especially the Partouche group, which owns many land casino operations in France, apparently with the approval of the otherwise state monopolised gambling industry.