xhttp://www.journaldunet.com/itws/it-gerault.shtml (in french)
The law about blocking gaming sites directly via ISPs and controlling financial cash flows will be discussed for approval on 21st November. :nervous:
It just appears to be worse than in USA. ANd the best is that the french governement want to discuss with other EU members about their actions and help them to do the same.
…..
The EU Commission would never approve such a project. One thing is giving some exceptions to a free market rule, other is what is happening. France is doing this because they have a very well developed gambling monopoly and they don’t want to lose its share.
But the same well developed monopoly is their weak point, that is being attacked by online gambling companies to put pressure on a EU Commission ruling. In fact if you have a monopoly and you advertise hard, then you’re trying to expand gambling, so under the rules of EU, you will not be able to defend behind the exception rule. Under the current circumstances, France will have to open the gambling market.
An EU country simply cannot use the exception rule to the free market to block gambling offered by private companies, in case they are promoting their monopolies trying to expand revenues. The exception rule would only apply if they keep their gambling monopolies low profile, which isn’t the case.
So, for good sake, this attitude from France will help us in some way. France is going with the wrong arguments (contrary to what happens in Holland), and EU Commission intervention will be faster.
Put your eyes on Bwin actions. This company will help us the most.
On a side note, I just want to remember our friends from the US that what is at stake in EU is not a dichotomy between online gambling /land based gambling but between country-monopoly owned gambling/private-offered gambling.
You can just erase the wording online/offline from the problem. The discussion is not at that level. It’s between free market/non-free market. This is very different from what’s happening in the US. If any privately held company were allowed to operate a land based casino in Europe, then any online business would be also. It would be impossible a situation like in the US, because it is protectionism in its higher level. This protectionism is absolutely wrong from a country that is a member of FTO. I would like to understand why countries all over the world are protecting US rights when US doesn’t assume its obligations.