ARJEL Has a New President But Little Change to French Gambling Laws Is Expected

ARJEL receives a new President, Charles Coppolani, after the former boss, Jean Francois Vilotte, resigned.

The French gambling regulator, ARJEL, has a new boss, and the executive didn’t waste any time sharing his views on the country’s market in French gambling news. Charles Coppolani, the new ARJEL President previously headed the government research body, which dealt with collecting data on problem gambling.

Coppolani replaces Jean Francois Vilotte at the top post, and it looks like he has a better understanding of what constitutes a successful regulated online gambling market. Coppolani boasts vast experience of working in the politically-charged environment, which is a definite advantage considering the last President failed to convince the lawmakers to change French gambling laws
and stop online gambling decline.

The French online gambling market

Despite Charles Coppolani’s experience many experts still wonder if the executive has enough will-power and support to speed up the development of online poker sites in France. The majority of operators were experiencing below average performance of online gambling destination in France compared to other European markets.

French regulator ARJEL gets a new President

• Charles Coppolani appointed to oversee the French gambling laws

• The executive comes from a government body dealing with problem gambling

• Experts don’t expect any big changes to policies in the near future

There was a very clear tendency among French online players to look for better offers and experience on other markets and even in the unlicensed sector. Charles Coppolani is looking to change all that with a set of new amendments.

One of the main obstacles in the development of French online gambling industry are the excruciating taxes set by the government and low player liquidity. And since the country’s gamers are knowledgeable enough to know where better offers lie, they were quick to migrate to other markets.

The last ARJEL President, Jean Francois Vilotte, was proposing tax reductions, sharing players with other jurisdictions, as well as larger variety of games offered. However, all his attempts to rectify the situation didn’t meet enough support with the lawmakers, ultimately causing him to resign.

He was quoted prior to his resignation saying: “We can see a decrease in the number of players in France, but this is due to the fact that big players are either moving out of the country or playing on illegal websites.”

What is expected of Charles Coppolani

Judging by the interview Charles Coppolani had with a prominent French paper, his approach to the French gambling market will be a bit different from his predecessor’s.

Coppolani blames the European economic crisis for the declining French gambling business. He also has an interesting opinion on poker players: Coppolani is confident that poker is way too complex for young people to fully comprehend it, despite widespread evidence that younger generations are enjoying far better success at both live and online poker in all parts of the globe.

The new President also opined that poker is on a general decline, and there’s actually proof of that. The renowned independent poker monitor site, Pokerscout, reports continuing slide in poker traffic worldwide for months now.

Charles Coppolani says the answer to French gambling industry problems lies in strengthening pursuit of unlicensed gambling operators. Responsible gambling concept promotion and increase in addressing problem gambling is also among his top priorities.

He is confident the French lawmakers have already achieved their main goal when they set out to regulate the online gambling market. A much safer and fairer gambling experience has been achieved online. Although these words would hardly provide any consolation to gambling operators continuing to experience declines in profits.

The new President was quoted: “Player protection is an ongoing priority.” However, judging by his comments and the fact that his predecessor failed to find understanding with lawmakers, little changes are to be expected in the near future.