French online gambling legislation faces delays

France recently announced that it was planning to open up its online gambling sector in compliance with EU rules. This caused a number of big players in the industry to get excited about such a potentially lucrative opportunity. Now it looks like the plans could be delayed which could see France fail to take advantage of the betting tax revenue that the World Cup next year would generate.
  
The proposal has been approved by MPs in the National Assembly and is almost certain to go through, but it will not pass the senate until the end of March. After that it will take at least another three months until it is fully up and running, by which time the World Cup will be nearing its end.

The World Cup would provide a huge cash boost in tax revenue from the large amount of sports betting that takes place over the course of the one-month tournament. So far there are only a handful of gambling operators that provide gambling services online, and the government will lose out if it does not organize the new legislation soon.

The French government is hoping that through legalizing online gambling and providing licenses to gambling operators, it will be able to better control both problem gambling and underage gambling.


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