In a statement the Budget Minister Eric Woerth held in framing the debate

Under the Canada 8 October, with its review by the National Assembly, the kickoff to the parliamentary debate on the Bill at the opening of the French market for gambling on the Internet occurs unexpectedly with one month in advance. In dismissing, Tuesday, the Austrian private operator Bwin and Portuguese football league ("Les Echos" of yesterday), which had implicated the historical monopoly to the Portugal, the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ) has caused considerable controversy.

National Socialist, radical and citizen Assembly group was immediately asked to withdraw the Bill from the agenda, considering that the judgment of the ECJ "confirms" his analysis, namely that "European law would require in any way the privatization of online games."Describing this same judgment of "scathing dissent to the Government", the Socialist deputies even accused him of hiding behind the pressures of Brussels to challenge the monopoly of Française des Jeux and PMU.

In a statement, the Budget Minister, Eric Woerth, held in framing the debate. While welcoming him also the content of the decision of the judges of Luxembourg, he has any other reading, considering that it "reinforces the architecture of the French Bill."Thus, the ECJ does not retain the principle of mutual recognition of the operators for gambling online. Clearly, only premium recognition of operators by each of the States of the Union: position of the Government. Bercy also stressed that the establishment of rules, inherent to the licensing of the future "will allow more efficiently than today ' hui", to combat money laundering or the risk of addiction, including.

Rapporteur of the Bill, the UMP MP Jean-François Lamour is also mounted to the niche by calling "Government do not", and to denounce "sectarianism" and "demagoguery" of the Socialist opposition.

Eradication of the illicit offers

For its part, the European Commission will "examine the implications" of the judgment of the ECJ, said the spokesman of the internal market Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy. For memory, Brussels has opened infringement proceedings against 10 Member States of the Union, in relation to the monopoly of the games on the Internet. Reactions have also made operators. France casinos, the majority sector employers Union, and expressed his "full membership" in the judgment of the ECJ, pleading for the application of the principle of subsidiarity in the area of the games. Without however calling into question "controlled opening" decided by the French Government, the professional organization believes that it should be for "primary objective the eradication of the illicit offers on the net."In passing, it recalls apply civil dans lawsuit brought by three of its members Groupe Lucien Barrière, JoaGroupe, and group edge from 14 foreign sites.

Meanwhile, games laFrançaise considers what ' judgment of the ECJ "consolidated" his "model" its "monopoly on the lottery on the Internet". The question if it does not open the door to a hardening of the project of law during the discussion in the Parliament, "given the sensitivity of the civil society, regulation and supervision are more than ever the order of the day", find a spokesman for the incumbent operator. In summary: the model of a single European game delocalized and ignoring national rules indeed received a harsh blow. In fact, the judgment of the ECJ has, as early as yesterday, weighed on stock market prices of European operators rated British PartyGaming and 888 Holdings, and Bwin.