French Gambling Laws Killing Gambling Betclic Everest Says

Betclic Everest Group (BEG) is definitely not having the best of times. The group operates in full compliance with tough French gambling laws and primarily focuses on sports betting and online poker.

According to France gambling news the extremely poor financial results of BEG caused its fifty percent shareholder Societe Des Bains De Mer’s (SBM) reveal the worst performance in fifteen years. BEG’s extremely dismal performance played a major role in SBM’s loss of €33.1 million in Q1 of its fiscal year.

The poor financial figures of Betclic Everest Group are explained by heavy investments over the last 10 months and extremely harsh environment of French gambling market. Draconian gambling taxes set by the French regulators are target of heavy criticism throughout the industry and are the primary reason behind a large number of gaming operators leaving the French market.

Unless the French government comes up with a milder approach to taxing gaming operators, the situation on the country’s gaming market could deteriorate further and cause a heave dent in the state coffers.

Betclic Everest Group among others operates one of the most popular online poker sites in France – Everest Poker. Catering primarily to European players and hosting a long list of poker game variations as well as an extensive selection of live poker event qualifiers.

Ignacio Martos has recently took over the Chief Executive Position, replacing Nicolas Beraud. The new CEO is reported to have introduced a comprehensive restructuring program including key executive personnel changes. The new head of BEG remains highly confident that the group will soon be back on track to profitability.

Bet-at-home, BetClick Everest Group parent company, did relatively well in German speaking countries and Eastern Europe with gross revenue of €18M in the Q3 of 2011, a jump of 7.7% to €16.7 million compared to 2011.

In the first nine months of the year, Bet-at-home posted a jump to €53.2M this year, up 10.6% from 2010. Over the past 3 months Bet-at-home has been up a healthy 19% to €423.2 million compared with the €356M made during the same time frame of 2010.