FRENCH MAY STAND FIRM ON ONLINE BETTING

9 November 2007

EU mutual recognition "difficult for us to accept"


French Budget Minister Eric Woerth recently spoke to the French newspaper Le Parisien, reiterating that his country is not ready to drop key legislation limiting online gambling but may consider loosening the state monopoly on horse racing.

The European Commission has been applying increasing pressure to persuade the French to comply with European Union principles regarding free passage of trade and services on gambling, and Woerth is due to meet with Commissioner McCreevy in the near future to seek a way past the traditionally protectionist policies that France has been applying against fellow EU nations..

"We are not opposed to a certain opening [of gambling to other EU nations] but we will remain firm on certain points," Woerth told Le Parisien. "On the point of mutual recognition, which is difficult for us to accept," he said when asked on what points France would not compromise.

"Just because an operator is recognised in a foreign country is no reason for us to have to open our gates to them in France," the Minister continued. "We intend to keep control of authorisations."

"The question of tax should also be looked at because we want to keep control of that," he added.

The Budget Minister revealed that the French government may be prepared to consider loosening the monopoly on gambling on horse racing currently held by betting firm PMU.

"Operators apart from the PMU could be accepted, but we want to keep the principle of pari-mutuel," he said. He identified fixed-odds betting as a serious stumbling block from a French perspective.

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