French legislature set to consider online casino legalisation with new bill
Bill 1248 would see a regulated table games and slots environment introduced by 1 January 2030
Legislators in France will soon discuss the legalisation and regulation of online casino after a new bill was introduced in the French legislature, the Assemblée Nationale.
Authored by Democratic Party representative Philippe Latombe and introduced earlier this week, bill 1248 calls on the French government to legalise online casino, potentially by January 2030.
Latombe justifies this call by highlighting the dangers of the French black market, which has been exacerbated by the growth of mobile phone online gambling sites.
“These offshore sites, often insecure and fraudulent, accessible from French territory in particular thanks to camouflage technologies, are, in addition to being cyberthreats, a real challenge for our digital sovereignty,” Latombe’s bill states.
“The ban in force against online casinos is therefore reaching its limits, even if the authorities try to identify and block illegal sites using court orders,” the document adds.
Bill 1248 would stagger the introduction of the vertical in France, introducing a “supervised and restricted” opening of the market via the implementation of a five-year moratorium period, the purpose of which is to ensure operators develop in “serene economic conditions”.
The moratorium would, the bill contends, also allow for the development of a nationally owned offer of online casino gameplay, most likely through the existing French national operator, Française des Jeux (FDJ), which has held a virtual monopoly on the French market since 2010.
This, it suggests, would provide for “dynamic competition” against long-standing operators with a foothold and operations across the EU.
A full opening of the market would follow on 1 January 2030.
“Otherwise, if the opening were to be total and immediate, it would disrupt our regulatory frameworks, weaken the national casino industry, as well as the economic balance of the municipalities where it is located, with potentially devastating consequences for employment in this sector,” the bill states.
Bill 1248 would allow France’s land-based casino operators to develop their own online casinos, with all commissioning and maintenance of these offerings the responsibility of so-called supply and maintenance companies.
Lastly, the bill would see online casino games taxed via gross gaming revenue in the same way as other games of chance in France, but does not state an explicit taxation rate for operators.
Similar in nature to the process used in the US and internationally, tabled bills are considered by both the Senate (upper House) and the Assemblée Nationale (lower House) of the French legislature in a process called ‘The Shuttle’ in which amendments may be proposed.
After this point, the French Prime Minister appoints a joint mediation committee from both Houses which is then tasked with pushing through the legislation, making compromises where required.
The Assemblée Nationale will then take a final vote on the legislation before it passes for passage into law.