Here Is More Good News in the Effort to Legalize
Thursday, March 4th, 2010Here is more good news in the effort to legalize online poker around the world.
The French National Assembly approved, by a count of 302-206, the bill to liberalize and regulate online gaming (including online poker) in France. The bill now passes on to the Senate for further debate.
The bill would end the domination of online gambling by France’s two state monopolies: Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) for horse racing, and Francais des Jeux for lotteries and other games, and allow privately owned websites to offer casino online, and betting on sports and horse racing. Under the proposed law, state-owned Francaise des Jeux would still retain its monopoly over Lotto. Also. bets on games considered too addictive and lacking in an element of skill, like one-armed bandits, would not be allowed.
Eric Woerth, the budget minister who was the architect of the bill, has said the state made over 5 billion euros (4.6 billion pounds) per year from gambling on the internet, at licensed cafes and at the racing tracks.
For years, France has been under pressure from the European Union and from private gaming firms and European gaming associations to open up their market worth billions of euros to competition.