Monday, October 16, 2006

The European Commission is targeting PMU and Francaise des Jeux to end what
is alleged to be a monopoly on Internet gambling in France, a report says.
The controversy has grown with the surge of online gambling on the
continent. The EU may still allow France to keep its monopoly under certain
conditions such as exempting national lotteries from such control. The
French national lottery is currently organized by FDJ, which also has
implemented Euromillions, giving it a share of foreign markets, Paris link
reports. It is the foreign market issue that has irked the EU whose
commissioners don't like France allowing itself in foreign markets while not
permitting competition at home, said the report. Similarly, online horse
race betting with foreign-based sites in France is seen as resulting from
PMU's control. The report said France may either be forced to open up its
market to competition in exchange for a license and taxes, or ban online
gambling altogether.