France debates a new legal framework for online skill games, raising questions about licensing, EU law compatibility and future regulation beyond online gambling.

Belgium’s new online gambling rules introduce stricter licensing and sanctions, but vague provisions leave operators facing major regulatory uncertainty.

On June 11, 2008, the French Government announced it would open its gaming markets as a result of pressure from the European Commission. The main features of the new liberalized gaming law have been announced. However, because the legal process to open the French gaming market is still at a political stage, the new law is still an evolving work in progress and amendments are quite probable.

Am 11. Juni 2008 kündigte die Französische Regierung an, dass der Glücksspielmarkt aufgrund des durch die Europäische Kommission ausgeübten Drucks geöffnet werde. Die Grundzüge des neuen, liberalisierten Glücksspielrechts wurden vorgestellt. Da jedoch der politische Prozess der Rechtssetzung noch nicht abgeschlossen ist, sind weitere Änderungen des Gesetzestextes im Entwurfsstadium wahrscheinlich. Zudem wird die Umsetzung des neuen rechtlichen Rahmens sicherlich nicht vor Mitte 2009 beginnen.

2007 and the first semester of 2008 have been marked by a “change of attitude” towards online gambling on the part of both the executive and the judiciary. This can be largely explained by the sending of a reasoned opinion by the European Commission to France last June, which put pressure on the one hand on the government to modify its gaming legislation to make it consistent with European law, and on the other hand on courts.

The Maltese Court of Appeal has refused to enforce the French Court of Appeal decision prohibiting a Maltese established bookmaker to offer its sports betting services in France. Zeturf, a bookmaker duly registered and incorporated in Malta provided French internet users the possibility to bet on hose races, whereas this type of gambling services falls under the exclusive right of the PMU.

In the legal framework of a bone of contention between the FDJ and the Syndicat des Casinos Modernes de France, the Court dealing with trade disputes pronounced, on the 12th of June 2006, a summary judgment that, on the rebound, gave new obligations to the FDJ regarding its site accessibility to surfers under 18. The bone of contention comes from the publication, on the 11th of April 2006, of a press release on the FDJ, wherein the company claims that “its site is only accessible to French residents aged more than 18”, that “the weekly stake is limited (500 €)” and that “the gambler’s huge gains are directly paid into their bank account and not into a gambling account”.

Wie uns von Thilbeaut Verbiest, Rechtsanwalt unserer Korrespondenz-Kanzlei ULYS in Frankreich und Belgien, in der nachfolgenden Publikation „Française des Jeux“ mitgeteilt wurde, konnte für die private Sportwetten- und Glücksspielindustrie in Frankreich ein Etappensieg gegen das dortige Monopol der „Francaise des Jeux“ (FDJeux) errungen werden. Die FDJeux unterlag nämlich in einem wettbewerbsrechtlichen Verfahren dem „Syndicat des Casinos Modernes de France“, das von ULYS vertreten wurde.