GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 13 - June 2010

T he legal landscape for online gam- bling inEurope is changingquick- ly, and nowhere are the changes more dramatic than in two of Europe’s largest markets – France and the U.K. GPWATimesManagingEditor VinNara- yananhas been tracking the changes, and takes a closer look atwhat’s happening in eachmarket. FRANCE This summer, in time for theWorld Cup, France isexpected to“liberalize” itsonline gambling laws and allow non-French op- erators the opportunity to offer their ser- vices in the second-most populous coun- try in theEU. Fordecades,Françaisedes jeux (FDJ)and Pari mutuel urbain (PMU) controlled the gamblingmarket in France. FDJ handled the lotteries side andPMUhandledhorse race betting. But under pressure from the EuropeanCommission, France began the process of revising its gambling laws last year. France’s new gambling law allows opera- tors toapply for licenses toprovideonline sports betting and online poker. Online casinos are not allowed. As of press time, the final regulations for the law had not been released. But that hasn’t stopped several of the industry’s largest operators from striking deals to enter the French market. And it hasn’t stopped top indus- trywatchdogs from stating their concerns about thenew legislation. Ladbrokes, which operates Ladbrokes. com and more than 2,700 betting shops in the U.K., Ireland, Belgium and Spain, is launching a joint venture with Groupe CANAL+–France’s toppayTVprovider– that will provide an online betting service that is licensedand regulated inFrance. The Canal+Group has about 12.5million subscribers to its TV channels, including 10.8millionsubscribers inFrance.Among the popular Canal+ channels are Canal+ and Canal+Sport. Ladbrokes is supplying thegamblingexpertiseand technology for the joint venture. CANAL is providing the Canal+brand, access toCanal+customers and its expertise inoperating inFrance. “Canal+ is a brand that is synonymous with sport inFrance,” said JohnO’Reilly, Ladbrokes’ managing director of remote betting and gaming. “We believe that there is an opportunity to build a good business in France over time as themar- ket and regulationdevelop.” “Ladbrokes is one of the world’s leading bookmakerswith a strongheritage in this sector,”addedGroupeCANAL+President Bertrand Meheut when the joint ven- ture was announced. “We look forward to working with Ladbrokes to establish one of the leading betting businesses in France.” Other sportsbooks are jumping into the lucrative French market as well. Sport- ingbet has inked a two-year deal with the Internet version of France’s national paper, LeMonde , which allows Sporting- bet to offer a co-branded sportsbook to French customers that is accessible from the sports page on LeMonde ’sWeb site, lemonde.fr/sport. Bwin, whichpulledout of France in2006 when two of its executives were arrested there, is creating a sportsbook for France as part of a joint venture with L’Équipe , France’snational sportsnewspaper. And anticipating competition from the opening of the market, PMU has part- neredwithPaddyPower toget spreadbet- tingprices. Paddy Power isn’t the only online gaming firm PMU is partnering with. PMU is also workingwithPartyPokertoofferonlinepok- er. Inaddition toPartyPoker’snewFrench- language site, PartyPoker.fr, PartyGaming also isprovidingwhite labelpokerroomsfor the ABGroupe and PMU. Players from all three sites will create PartyPoker’s French player pool. The AB Groupe has about 50 millionpaid subscribers to 15TV channels, and is expected toprovide somemarketing muscle for thenewventure. Like PMU, FDJ, the other half of what will soon be the former French gambling monopoly,hasbeenhardatwork trying to protect itsmarket position. FDJboughtLaverockVonSchoultz (LVS), aLondon-based softwareprovider known for its sports betting technology. In ad- dition to offering sports betting, FDJ is partneringwith theBarrièreCasino toof- fer onlinepoker. Barrière, whichoperates 38 land-based casinos inFrance, Switzer- land, Egypt and France, also runs the 3D online casinoLeCroupier. And in an effort to get its newofferings in front of asmany eyeballs as possible, FDJ has signed a deal withmobile phone and telecom provider Orange to put FDJ on- linegamblingoptionsonOrange’sFrench portals. FDJ has also reached an agreement with TF1, France’s top TV broadcaster. The partnership calls for TF1 to provide a games area on the TF1.fr Web site that offers FDJ sports betting, poker and lot- tery games. It alsoprovides opportunities for FDJ to sponsor TV shows that could be related to their products, like aWorld Cup show. Mangas Gaming, which controls Everest GamingandownsBetclic,ExpektandBet- At-Home, hasalsoannounced their inten- tions to get French licenses aswell. Ever- FranceandtheU.K.takeasecondlook attheirgamblinglaws NEWSANALYSIS 70 France and the U.K take a second look at their gambling laws