Budget Minister Eric Woerth has told the French press that he will advise President Sarkozy to proceed with a ‘controlled opening’ of France’s online gambling market to private operators. Whilst questions surrounding online casino games, betting on sports events and the existing pari-mutuel horserace betting system have yet to be answered by officials, observers believe that the French government is keen to formulate a clear course of action before the summer.

A French newspaper reports that, in the wake of intensified pressure from the European Commission, the Sarkozy government is preparing to relax restrictions currently applied to online sports betting but will insist upon maintaining a certain degree of control over foreign-based operators.

As Nicolas Sarkozy prepares to become French President, domestic and European pressures mean that gambling will be high up on his agenda for reform.

France has decided to amend its legislation in order to allow European online gambling operators to offer their services in a regulated manner. This is a direct consequence of the infringement proceedings brought by the European Commission in June last year, of the ECJ rulings in Gambelli and Placanica, as well as of the landmark French Supreme Court decision in Zeturf.

France’s Budget Minister is expected to present plans for a reform of France’s online gambling market to government colleagues today. The proposals are a first step towards the drafting of a new law in the Autumn, but professional sports leagues and private betting operators are both expressing concerns that the government is ducking the thorny issue of betting rights.

The MP charged with formally presenting France’s online gambling law to parliament has told a French newspaper a bill is likely to be put before the French cabinet in January, and then examined by National Assembly members towards the end of March.

Draft legislation to open up the French online gambling market to private competition is to be unveiled for the first time in Paris later today. Operators from across Europe will be watching for news of the applicable tax rate, and for the precise conditions for licences that are likely to be handed out before the end of this year.

France’s budget minister insists online gaming firms will be obliged to cease accepting bets from existing French customers once a draft bill to liberalise the French market gains final approval in the country’s National Assembly.

A recent conference held by the French parliament on the future of its online gaming regime highlighted some of the obstacles the draft bill faces if a reform is to be adopted by the beginning of the football World Cup in June.

The French budget minister’s confirmation yesterday that France’s forthcoming online gambling regulations will be enforced via payments and IP blocking measures has left would-be operators contemplating an effective tax rate of 8.5 percent on total stakes for sports betting, 15.5 percent for horserace betting and 2 percent for online poker – the sole activities to be permitted under France’s ‘controlled opening’ of the market.