European Online Poker Battle: France stepped back from its hard-line position
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the French have long paddled their own canoes in relation to online gaming, banning advertising, arresting executives of bookmakers, and generally taking a hard-line.
Two executives from Austrian online gambling firm bwin.com, formerly known as Bet and Win, have been arrested in France in relation to alleged violations of French gaming laws, prompting yet another wave of panic selling across many London-listed internet betting stocks.
But mid-January saw something of a volte-face as the Court of Appeal of Versailles shifted the burden of proof onto French authorities to justify that the regulatory framework there is “consistent, proportionate, and justified.” The court found that EC law was clear and superseded French law.
Sigrid Ligné, secretary general of the EGBA, said, “We are delighted with this decision. It is an important one and comes in the general context of the commitment taken by the French authorities to propose a controlled opening of the French gaming market by March 2008.”o
