After years of pressure from EU and enormous efforts from Online Gaming operators, France is finally legalizing online poker and other forms of gambling, as the French parliament has recently passed a bill legalizing online gambling. 299 members of the Parliament supported the bill while 223 members opposed.
Commenting on the new bill, France’s budget minister Francois Baroin said, "This text will allow us to progressively dry up the black market in online gambling by creating a legal offer which obeys the rules.”
Passing the bill definitely is a cause for satisfaction for the budget minister. Legalization of online gambling naturally includes taxation of the cash rich activity, thus filling the country’s treasury. Accordingly the new bill income from online poker will be taxed at 2% while income from sports betting will be taxed at 7.5%.
Although the new legislation can be marked as an important victory for online gaming operators, which will now be able to operate legally in this huge market it will also require them to receive a licence from the French regulator who will keep a very close look at their newly legalized operations.
the French authorities have a big challenge ahead of them, making sure that minors do not take part in any sort of online gambling, and that gambling addictions are reduced to a minimum. It is therby expected to take strong measures to stop illegal websites and will make it possible to block them. After this bill comes into force, players may be able to make monetary transactions between gambling website and French banks.
