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Published: Friday, September 28, 2007 mgowanbo.cc
Government minister tells media "we're not hostile to online gambling."
In an interview with Agence France Presse this week a French minister, Eric Woerth, asserted that the French government was “not hostile to opening up to online gaming” as long as it was done in a “controlled” way.
Woerth will play an important part in discussions next (October) month in Brussels when the possibility of allowing private online gaming operators to take bets from French citizens will be on the table. But he insisted that France would not allow in “just any operator” to enter the market, for reasons of “social and public order and problem gambling”.
France has long been at the centre of controversy over bans on Internet betting not carried out under the aegis of the state gambling monopolies, and confrontations have resulted in the arrest of Austrian gambling executives and restrictions on advertising that have impacted sporting events. The country has also been the subject of warnings on the free passage of trade and services for other European Union nations.
Following the Brussels discussions, a further meeting is scheduled for 17 October in Paris to discuss adapting “the French model of betting and gaming” so that it meets its European trade obligations of allowing cross-border competition.
The Paris meeting will be attended by French gambling monopolies PMU and Francaise des Jeux, French casino groups Barrière, Partouche and Tranchants, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and Betfair. |
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发表于 2007-9-29 09:52
