By >Called it part ii because I’m short on inspiration today – and there’s more stuff that I think is interesting about gambling regulation in France…I’ve also got an update on Ladbrokes & Will Hill.
Did you know that France’s gambling laws stretch back to 1539 and an edict passed by King Francois the 1st? That’s what the most recent updates to gambling legislation in France have to work from…
There were 23 applicants for Sports betting licences in France and (I believe) 15 successful applicants. The poker guys will hear at the end of the month, the delay was due to the Maltese LGA putting in some questions to the EC.
Who’s doing who?
Ladbrokes has applied for a licence in a JV with French television broadcaster Canal Plus, subsidiary of Vivendi SA.
Will Hill said at the end of May it was taking steps to cease accepting online gambling business from French clients, while it was considering applying for a French licence.
BWIN has teamed up with Sajoo, a subsidiary of press publisher and events organiser Amaury.
BetClic (already operates in the French market from Malta) said it’s applying for a French licence. BetClic is co-owned by French businessman Stephane Courbit and Monaco casino operator Societe des Bains de Mer and part of Mangas Gaming.
There was some interesting points made (in the Malta Business Weekly) by Bruno Hareng, an analyst at Oddo Securities.
“Assuming eventual sports betting sales of €4 billion, there would only be €400 million (ie 10 per cent) for operators taking in account a payout rate of 82-83 per cent for players and 7.5 per cent state deductions. If we also subtract running and advertising costs, there would only remain about €50 million profit to be shared between the operators, hence the low number of eventual betting operators,”
It’s going to be very interesting to see how the Operators all shake out in terms of brand penetration & ultimate dominance.
betonliamcasey 