888 to leave France

Gaming giants 888 have announced that they will stop operating in France as of Sunday 11th July. This follows the new legislation recently introduced in France which meant that all operators had to apply for new licenses, a move which many companies complained about as they felt the system was a way of making things harder for foreign operators, giving French operators an unfair advantage.

Although all gaming, including Internet bingo, will stop 888 have said that they plan to re-enter the French market in due course. They have said; “888 has applied for a license in France. Because we plan to fully comply with the new regulation, we have decided to take immediate action.”

As any group not complying with the new legislation is liable to face prosecution it is anticipated that many more operators will be applying for the licence, as players will only be able to gamble on sites that have a French licence. This is stricter than legislation in other countries – in the UK for example sites can either be registered in the UK or a white listed jurisdictions, most of which fall within the European Union.

There are a large number of UK bingo sites and online gambling operators who select Alderney as their jurisdiction due to the low tax. The UK government though are investigating methods to bring these companies on-shore, with advertising levies expected to be targeted for new taxation.

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2. Online Bingo to End in Some Countries
3. Dragonfish expands in poker field
4. Ireland Set to Tax Online Gambling
5. Budget Announcement for Bingo