The French Budget minister said on Monday (October 28) that a consultation process for online gaming will begin as “early as next week”.
Minister Laurent Saint-Martin’s move comes after an amendment to the 2025 budget bill that would have regulated online casino games was withdrawn over the weekend.
The amendment, had it been approved, would have left the specifics of regulation and licences up to future ordinances, but established a record breaking tax rate of 55.6 percent of gross gambling revenue.
Heavy protest from the powerful land-based casino industry and local politicians was apparently effective in stalling the legalisation.
When the amendment was first announced, Grégory Rabuel, the president of Casinos de France, said in a local interview that the measure “amounts to signing the death warrant for land-based casinos”.
The Addiction Federation also asked to be consulted, as did more than 100 mayors who penned a joint statement published in French paper of record Le Figaro.
Saint-Martin said in the ministry’s press release on the matter: “I’ve listened to the industry’s concerns, and from next week I’ll be meeting with them personally to work out the best solutions for online casinos, an activity that is now widespread but unauthorised, unregulated and not devoid of risk. This co-construction and clear impact study approach is essential in my eyes, and I’m convinced that together we’ll be able to come up with the best solutions.”
The press release listed the following as sticking points that it promised would be addressed: preserving the mental health of the French; improving the fairness of the competitive field; defending the public order; ensuring consumer safety; and preserving jobs and the local economy.
The press release also clarified that by improving fairness, the minister means “correcting a competitive imbalance to the disadvantage of physical casinos, which are currently faced with competition from unregulated players”.
It mirrors the sentiments of Rabuel, who also said in an interview with Les Echos: “Today, casinos are the only ones to legally offer this type of game. Tomorrow, there will be many more of us, which will require investing tens of millions of euros in advertising.”