French Online Gambling Law May Not Be Passed in Time for World Cup

A few new obstacles have come up in the way of the current legislation regarding internet gambling in France. Ambition on the behalf of legislators could be rewarded with great payout at the time of the next World Cup. Judging by the way things are looking now, however, chances are that the laws in question will not be put into effect in time.

Though the liberalization of online gambling laws was planned to come into effect in January of 2010, current reports indicate that the process is running behind schedule. If passed, the legislation in question will enable the French government to license online gambling operators.

The newly legalized, French government licensed online gambling operators would be offering a great variety of gambling possibilities including horse racing, poker, and most importantly in the light of the 2010 World Cup, sports betting. The motions in legislation have already passed in the National Assembly. The whole matter now rests solely on the decisions of the Senate.

Senator François Trucy has announced that one reason the law has yet to be passed, is that it does not give health agencies enough content to effectively treat and prevent compulsive online gambling. At this point, the proposed law is not likely to pass in the senate until late March afterwhich it would only become effective after a period of three months.

French gambling laws dictate that only the Francaise des Jeux and the PMU are permitted to run online gambling operations. With the breakdown of this monopoly, the country may see a surge in tax revenue. Online gambling sites in France will be plentiful when the law is passed, unfortunately this probably won’t happen before the very fruitful World Cup.