The government backtracks on the opening of online casinos. An amendment presented last week by the government plans to authorize online casinos by ordinance in France, the only European Union country along with Cyprus where this means of gaming is banned, by setting the level of taxation. “This opening derives from the adaptation of the gaming framework to that of our main European neighbors”, specifies the text.
To justify this measure, the government highlighted the fact that “this ban has been accompanied by the development of significant illegal supply in recent years. According to the study commissioned at the end of 2023 by the National Gaming Authority, the gross gaming revenues generated by the illegal offer of online gambling in France would be between 748 million and 1.5 billion euros, or between 5% and ‘11% of the total gambling market.
While this measure has been requested by online gaming operators for several years, the legalization of online casinos in France is instead criticized by physical establishments, who ask that this market be reserved for them. “According to our calculations, the opening of online casinos to competition will lead to a 20-30% drop in the gross revenues of traditional casinos and the closure of 30% of the establishments,” warned Grégory Rabuel. president of the Casinos de France sector union and general director of the Barrière group, in an interview to the Echoes published last Monday. And he adds: “There will be catastrophic consequences, especially social: it is estimated that 15,000 jobs will be lost. More generally, this is tantamount to signing the death warrant for land-based casinos.” Physical casinos had received the support of more than a hundred mayors in a forum to ask the government to reverse course.
Consultation required
Furthermore, the Addiction Federation had also raised the alarm, considering that online casinos are considered one of the most addictive games.
Faced with this rant, the Budget Minister, Laurent Saint-Martin, preferred to withdraw the text. “There was talk of the government coming forward with an amendment. This is no longer the case. I believe we must work among ourselves first,” he told Radio J this Sunday. “I am very vigilant on this topic. You must not make mistakes. This must not penalize a certain number of players, especially physical casinos,” he added. “I think we need a consultation. We need to sit around a table with the ministers concerned to look,” he concluded.
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