A number of leading European based online gaming operators have been locked in battle this week with the French authorities having been accused of illegally offering online casino games to French residents.
Unibet, 888, Sportingbet and BWin have been identified as the main culprits by the French authorities. The issue has been championed within France by the Casinos de France trade union, who in turn are heavily sponsored by the land based French casino giants Tranchant and Barriere.
These accusations come just months before the legal regulation of the French online gambling market, which officially comes into effect on the 1st June. However, lobbying by the Casinos de France trade union has focused on the fact that the French market will only be open to online sports books and online poker rooms, and not online casinos that provide online games such as roulette and online pokies.
A spokesman for the French lobby group have stated….
‘These companies are deliberately violating French law thereby depriving the French treasury of considerable tax revenues.’
However, Bwin’s legal team have quickly countered the accusations, stating that they offer their casino product in over 21 languages, and by providing a French language version that they are not directly targeting French residents.
It’s clear that French is spoken outside of France but we expect this legal argument to go on for some time.
Source: OnlinePokiesClub.com
Tags: france
This entry was written by admin on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 at 1:01 am and is filed under Blog, News.
