The administration organized a conference to solicit opinions from stakeholders.
France- The government has conducted a meeting with gambling companies and other stakeholders to get feedback on its plan to regulate online casinos in France.
The action occurred after the government postponed measures to legalise and regulate the vertical because to objections from the land-based casino industry.
The meeting on Wednesday was attended by land-based casino operators, horse racing stakeholders, and online gambling companies. MPs and municipal associations were also in attendance, as was the British Betting and Gaming Council, as well as major British businesses like Bet365.
The government intended to regulate online casinos as early as next year to generate much-needed tax revenue. However, Casinos de France, the trade group for land-based casinos, cautioned that the move could drive many operators out of business. More than 100 municipal mayors also written to the administration to condemn the decision.
According to the language of the withdrawn legislation, online casino operators would have paid 27% of gross gaming income. The total tax rate on the vertical would have been 55.6%. However, Casinos de France claims that an open, competitive internet gambling sector would cost the government roughly €450 million in tax income from land-based casinos.
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The government claims that the lack of a regulated online casino section in France has resulted in a lucrative criminal market worth between €748 million and €1.5 billion per year. Meanwhile, it must increase tax income to lower the country’s debt and public deficit, which currently stands at 5.5% of GDP. While the government intends to boost taxes on the gambling industry in general, it believes that regulating internet casinos will generate €1 billion.
Some argue that AFJEL members should be able to provide digital products for land-based casinos, allowing them to enter the market without having to create their own operations. The lottery operator FDJ‘s view is likely to be influential, and it is expected to become a big role after acquiring the Swedish online gaming firm Kindred.
Surprisingly, it highlighted reservations about internet casinos during Wednesday’s meeting.
France is one of the few nations in Western Europe, and the only one in the EU, other than Cyprus, where internet casinos are still outlawed. This is despite the fact that internet poker and sports betting are regulated. The national regulator, the ANJ, recently began a campaign against unlicensed businesses in an effort to inform the public that the sector is unlawful.
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