Following a sustained attack from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding its restricted Internet gambling market, French officials have initiated talks in Brussels to consider the opening up of the industry to foreign competitors. A spokesperson for the French government said it wanted to show they were open to discussions. Meanwhile, gambling monopoly Française des Jeux said that talks would give them the opportunity to put an end to the “unfair competition from internet gambling sites”.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is going to pronounce its long-awaited decision in the joined cases Placanica et al. (Cases C-338/04, C-359/04 and C-360/04) on Tuesday, 6 March 2007, at 9:30 a.m. The operators and agents affected as well as numerous courts expect a further clarification of the legal situation with regards to the cross-border provision of sports betting. As for the Gambelli and the Zanetti decisions, the facts of this decision are based on criminal proceedings against betting agents having transferred contracts for sporting bets from Italy to a British bookmaker, in this case, Stanley International Betting Ltd.