EU Requests that France Change their Proposed Online Casino Rule

June 11, 2009 | News Category: Gaming Law

0 Comments

France, in fulfilling a request from the European Union, have drawn up a draft copy of their proposed new online casino rules. The previous laws that governed Internet gambling in France were not in line with the free trade practice within the European Union.

The executive branch of the European Union, the European Commission, have reviewed the draft proposal from the French authorities, and still feel that more changes are necessary. In light of this, the French authorities were asked to make the necessary modifications to the proposal for regulating online casinos. The French Budget Minister, Eric Woerth, noted that the changes which are still needed, address concerns regarding the requirements for Internet gambling operators to obtain licensing.

The new laws in France are being put in place in order to allow and encourage free market competition in the Internet gambling industry, and thereby being compliant with the European Union's trade regulations. There are concerns that France will not allow other gambling operators to meet their standards, which has prompted the EC to request that existing gambling operators that are fulfilling the necessary conditions in other EU countries, will be verified as meeting French standards too.

The European Commission further requested that foreign online gambling operators would only be rejected should it be necessary to do so in order to protect the public interest. For example, France should only reject foreign gambling operators when they have been in violation of consumer protections, or have been exposed as fraudulent operators.

Minister Woerth has told the European Commission that his agency will supply them with the protocols that France plans to use to review the operating criteria of those online casino companies from other countries that wish to apply for a license to operate in France.

France has expressed their desire that there be a limit placed upon the maximum proportion of bets which will be returned to online casino players. The French authorities argue that problem gambling is also caused as a result of increasing numbers of visits by online casino winners. The European Commission has rejected this position on problem gamblers.

The EU has given France a month to change their conditions and to bring their rules governing online casinos into compliance with European Union law. It is expected that France will fully comply with the European Commission's requests.

The EU has also been dealing with other countries, such as the United States, with regards to violating trade agreements in connection with their Internet gambling laws. Unlike France, the United States has shown that they are reluctant to comply with existing trade agreements.