Skip to main content

French online gambling bill is a farce

Don't expect any companies moving to France in a hurry after the National Assembly voted to introduce licensing regulation for online wagering. Amongst the ridiculous items in the bill:

- all accounts held by French citizens must be closed down until the respective company is licensed and situated on French soil

- all markets must have a best pay back return of 85% (imagine betting on tennis or NFL with markets of 1.74/1.74!!)

- big chunk (8%) of turnover (not profit) to be paid to the government and then the operator must negotiate with the respective sports bodies to pay more for the privilege again

This will get struck down by the EU - all it does is protect the govt run duopoly of the PMU and FdJ. No competitive business will put up with such crap.

European Gaming and Betting Association Secretary General Sigrid Ligne said

“At the time when Europe is watching the developments of France’s reform, the introduction of even more unjustified restrictions is threatening to corrupt the efficient workings of the market.

“If the senate votes along these lines, the prospects of a French market that is both viable and compliant with EU law is a longway off.”


Meanwhile Right2Bet is lobbying hard for the rights of European punters.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Spot-fixing - you will never, ever be able to stop it

According to this report , IPL tournaments so far have been rife with spot-fixing - that is fixing minor elements of the game - runs in a single over, number of wides bowled etc. The curious part of that article is that the Income Tax department are supposed to have found these crimes. What idiot would be stupid enough to put down 'big wad of cash handed to me by bookie' as a source of income? Backhanders for sportsmen, particularly in a celebrity- and cricket-obsessed culture like India are not rare. They could come from anything like turning up to open someone's new business (not a sponsor, but a 'friend of a friend' arrangement), to being a guest at some devoted fan's dinner party etc. The opportunities are always there, and there will always be people trying to become friends with players and their entourage - that is human nature. This form of match-fixing (and it's not really fixing a match, just a minor element of it) is very hard to prove, but also,

It's all gone Pete Tong at Betfair!

The Christmas Hurdle from Leopardstown, a good Grade 2 race during the holiday period. But now it will go into history as the race which brought Betfair down. Over £21m at odds of 29 available on Voler La Vedette in-running - that's a potential liability of over £500m. You might think that's a bit suspicious, something's fishy, especially with the horse starting at a Betfair SP of 2.96. Well, this wasn't a horse being stopped by a jockey either - the bloody horse won! Look at what was matched at 29. Split that in half and multiply by 28 for the actual liability for the layer(s). (Matched amounts always shown as double the backers' stake, never counts the layers' risk). There's no way a Betfair client would have £600m+ in their account. Maybe £20 or even £50m from the massive syndicates who regard(ed) Betfair as safer than any bank, but not £600m. So the error has to be something technical. However, rumour has it, a helpdesk reply (not gospel, natur

lay the field - my favourite racing strategy

Dabbling with laying the field in-running at various prices today, not just one price, but several in the same race. Got several matched in the previous race at Brighton, then this race came along at Nottingham. Such a long straight at Nottingham makes punters often over-react and think the finish line is closer than it actually is. As you can see by the number of bets matched, there was plenty of volatility in this in-play market. It's rare you'll get a complete wipe-out with one horse getting matched at all levels, but it can happen, so don't give yourself too much risk...