Greek Intralot to Offer Online Sportsbook in France

Greece’s Intralot is prepared to continue its aggressive global expansion into a new decade, and will gain momentum through a new deal made with ARJEL, the regulatory group that oversees internet gambling in France. Intralot France was just awarded an Online Sports Betting license with a 5 year renewable term.

Intralot maintains a strong global presence, and operates in 50 countries around the globe. Its primary product is national lottery systems, but the group also deals in sports betting, online casinos and poker games, and video lottery terminals.

The price Intralot paid for a license to offer internet betting in France was not disclosed. Intralot CEO Constantinos Antonopoulos comments, “The online license that INTRALOT was granted in France is a very important step towards the implementation of our plans to capitalise on the major opportunity represented by the growth of the regulated European online gaming sector. With a population of 65 million and a strong tradition in the lottery and gaming industries, France will play a pivotal role for INTRALOT Interactive in the new era of regulated online gaming. We are looking forward to bringing our pioneering services and products, as well as exciting entertainment experiences to the French market.”

It has only been a few months since France liberalized its internet sports betting market. Previously, all legal sports bets went through state monopolies Francaise des Jeux and Paris Mutuel Urbain (PMU). France is now the second major continental market to regulate the online gambling following Italy.

In addition to sports betting, the bill passed by the French National Assembly in French National Assembly in April 2010 legalized online poker and internet horse racing. Antonopoulos stated that Intralot already has plans to submit further license requests to French regulator ARJEL, hoping to someday capitalize on both internet horse betting and online poker in France.