France regulates online gaming market and awards bwin sports betting and poker licenses in time for the Football World Cup

Vienna – As one of the first operators, bwin, the world’s leading online gaming provider, has been granted French online gaming licenses. Issued by the French regulator ARJEL, the online sports betting license entitles the French subsidiary bwin Entertainment Services (B.E.S. SAS) to offer online sports betting to French customers starting on 9 June 2010. In obtaining this license, all the requirements have been met to ensure the timely launch of a French label just before the Football World Cup. „We were confident throughout that we would be able to start off in a regulated French market before the World Cup kick-off. In obtaining the license, we have successfully jumped the biggest hurdle,“ says Norbert Teufelberger, Co-CEO of bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. Preparations for the launch of bwin.fr are all complete.

Along with the license for sports betting, B.E.S. SAS was also awarded a poker license. The poker license will become valid as soon as the requisite legal conditions have been established in France. As a result, real-money poker will presumably be available on the French label bwin.fr starting end of June.

Law: Important first step

„We are pleased that, following Italy, another country has followed the call for a clearly regulated and transparent market. The present law is a great first step. There are still a few more miles to go on the road toward establishing legal conditions that warrant fair competition in France. We will be working closely together with the French authorities in order to take these developments forward,“ says Norbert Teufelberger.

Joint venture SAjOO also obtains sports betting and poker licenses

There is nothing more to stop the start of sajoo.fr in the next few days. SAjOO, a joint venture uniting bwin and the French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury (Amaury Group), has also been issued a provider license by the French regulator. „With our dual-brand strategy, bwin is all set to take on a leading role in the newly regulated French online gaming market,“ says Norbert Teufelberger.