France iCasino discussions set for today
France iCasino discussions set for today
French stakeholders to meet government today, Horse racing suspicious despite no tax rise, Germany betting, Bally's sells in Japan.
Good morning, on Gaming & Co today:
Time is now: online casino discussions between French gambling stakeholders and government set for today.
Horse racing sector spared tax rise, but French industry remains suspicious.
German trade body says betting documentary is misleading
Setting sun: Bally’s Corp sells Japanese assets
News shorts : Kindred exits Hungary, Denmark, US prediction markets, Finland
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(Source: web - unregulated casino website targeting French players)
French gambling stakeholders meeting with government today
The meeting follows two weeks of twists and turns related to online casino regulation amendment.
Time is now: French gambling stakeholders are meeting today (Wednesday) with government representatives to discuss how they can move forward on the highly sensitive issue of online casino regulation. The meeting follows two weeks of twists and turns as France’s government has gone from introducing an amendment that would regulate online casino in an open (competitive) setting, to withdrawing the proposal following concerted pressure from the country’s land-based casinos and more than 100 mayors expressing their disapproval of the measure.
Involved parties: The topic is of concern to the country’s land-based casinos and groups such as Partouche, Barrière or Circus and their trade body Casinos de France; and online operators such as Betclic, Winamax or Unibet.
In summary: The government’s amendment outlined an open and competitive market that operators of all types could work in as long as they meet compliance and licensing requirements, a scenario that is ideally suited to online operators. Land-based casinos have always been against that model and have long called for CdF members to be allowed to operate digital casinos during an initial exclusivity period.
CdF VP and Partouche board member Fabrice Paire told French media recently that one of the reasons for this stance is that they don’t want to repeat the mistake of the 2010 regulations of OSB and poker.
In their view, they allowed online operators who had been working in the market for many years prior to enter the market with huge databases that enabled them to build unassailable market shares.
Meet me halfway
To find common ground and encourage resolution, one model that has been floated would see AFJEL members operate the digital offerings of land-based casinos. This would also enable the casinos to collect revenues from a regulated market without having to get too deeply involved in operational issues, although details such as the duration of such arrangements remain unclear.
Under pressure: Time pressures are key, with CdF insisting it will not be rushed into agreeing anything and AFJEL wanting to get an agreement in place before the end of this year’s parliamentary session.
One way or another: Timings are yet to be confirmed, but speaking to a number of industry sources, it seems clear the winds of change are blowing in only one direction. That view is also supported by the fact that Française des Jeux has the ear of the government and is bringing its lobbying power to the table and to AFJEL through its ownership of Kindred Group.
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French horse racing spared budget tax raise
But stakeholders remain suspicious of government manoeuvres.
Rowing back on taxes… for the time being: The overriding priority of France’s 2025 budget is to raise revenues to plug the country’s debts and its plans to generate an extra €500m to boost its social security coffers via higher gambling taxes is part of that reform project. However, budget ministry officials have rowed back the tax raising measures that were planned on the country's horse racing stakeholders following the amendment’s rejection by French MPs.
Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin told French media that the higher taxes had been withdrawn. These would have seen retail horse racing GGR taxed at 7.5% from 6.9% and online GGR taxed at 15% from 6.9%. Instead GGR taxes on both online and retail bets will be held at 7%. The tax raises would have cost an estimated €30-€35m to horse racing stakeholders.
Suspicious minds: However, despite the news, stakeholders remain suspicious and have cancelled all racing fixtures planned for Thursday this week.
Strike day: The cancellations will cost the government an estimated €2m in tax revenues. A spokesperson for the industry told RMC Sport “it isn’t naive” and that the government has “not guaranteed” the tax rises would not happen.
Force majeure: The industry fears the government will re-introduce the amendment and, if necessary, “use the 49.3” article, the same legislative tool President Macron used to push through his retirement reforms, to force the new measures through.
German trade body calls out betting documentary
DSWV says documentary was partial and misleading.
Guilt by implication: Germany's sports betting trade association the DSWV has called out a documentary that was recently broadcast on Bavarian TV entitled ‘Attack on amateur soccer - the greed of betting providers’. The group said the programme implied that German bettors could circumvent German laws to bet on amateur football matches with operators licensed in other EU countries by using VPNs.
DSWV said the film did not clarify this, “making it appear as if such participation is easily possible or even intended”, while payouts are linked to player identification throughout Europe and the customer in the film used a fake identity to create an account, did not receive any winnings and was unable to complete their bet.
It added if German players “try to access dot com domains, they are recognised by their IP address, blocked and redirected to the provider's dot de site” and noted that while betting on amateur matches is not permitted in Germany, it is allowed in many other EU countries.
The trade body said the real problem with the German sports betting market is “not the websites of legal betting providers in neighbouring European countries, but the highly advertised betting offers from illegal sites”.
DSWV said a recent study from the University of Leipzig showed that German players spend half of their time playing on illegal websites.
Bally’s setting sun
Group will now focus on US and Europe following Japan divestments.
Setting sun: Bally’s Corporation has sold its Japan-facing operations for an undisclosed amount and to an unidentified buyer, although it said the acquiring company was formed by executives linked to the business unit. The group has operated the brands CasinoSecret, Vera&John, InterCasino and Yuugado in Japan for many years.
In on the secret: Casino Secret was acquired by Breckenridge Curacao BV, a business for which Bally’s is the primary beneficiary. The brand was founded by Nadir Ounissi, who along with Sabri Tekaya is one of the leaders of Betsson France, which went live in the French market at the end of 2023.
Operating in Japan has proved problematic in recent years, with payments and affiliate activities made more difficult in recent years due to government clampdowns.
K&F Growth Capital, a major Bally’s shareholder, also called on the group to sell its digital assets Japan. Bally’s added that it will focus on its European and North American activities.
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News shorts
Kindred Group’s flagship brand Unibet is set to exit Hungary. The group is not licensed in the country and has announced that its poker sites will not be available there. The move would follow recent exist form Norway and Finland and conform with the wishes of parent company Française des Jeux that it only operates in regulated markets.
Denmark’s gambling revenue fell 2.8% YoY in September to €74m despite online casino revenue rising 12% to €38m, with online slot machines generating 77% of the total. Sports betting revenue down nearly 22% to €19m with mobile betting bringing in 79% of that total.
The regulator Spillemyndigheden said just over 53,000 people had registered with the country’s ROFUS national self-exclusion scheme and males accounted for 77.6% of those registered. It added that more than 30% of callers to its StopSpillet helpline were aged 18-25.
Finland will move horse racing betting into the commercial sphere as part of the government’s move to overhaul gambling regulations by 2026. The country is set to regulate competitive online gambling in January 2026 as part of a model that will see the state operator Veikkaus compete against private online sports betting and gaming operators.
Prediction markets have dominated the news surrounding betting on the US elections. While Kalshi won its case against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in October, the arrival of trading giant Robinhood on the political markets scene could upend the whole industry.
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