France Making Progress
in Drafting Online Gambling Regulations
by Mira Patel, News Staff Writer
July 8, 2008
The word on the
street is that France is coming around...coming around,
that is, to online gambling regulation. While it has
been a rocky road toward liberalization of France's
gambling laws and defiant land-based casino gambling
monopoly, progress has certainly been made. Largely due
to the pressuring of the European Commission and Charlie
McCreevy, France has expressed an increasingly less
protective stance regarding gambling activities within
and across its borders.
Also helping create
the bridge toward better relations between Francaise des
Jeux, the PMU and foreign online betting operators doing
business with French citizens has been the Director of
the French National Crime Commission, Alain Bauer, whose
willingness to get things done has helped legislators
draft guidelines for creating regulatory enforcement
protocols, including audit procedures for online
casinos.
Although any
legislation is far from finished or being passed,
several key regulatory issues have been resolved,
including the licensing of gaming companies. Apparently,
operators will be required to provide all necessary
information to maintain the most transparent business
operations possible, including information on company
stock so as to prevent any "insider" trading.
Similar to the
online gambling legislation drafted in South Africa,
France will likely require all online bettors to
pre-register for obtaining a personal identification
number that must be obtained in order to participate in
real money online gambling activities. Making the
prevention of underage and problem gambling a top
priority, France says they will be working with the
European Commission to introduce the legislation and new
regulations next year.
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