France: a Former Chief Executive of 888 Interview is Required
Online gambling company 888 has been under fire in the last week, as reports emerged that French authorities want to interview its former chief executive John Anderson.
In stark contrast with the general move throughout the European Union to regulation of the online gambling industry, France has stubbornly held on to its monopolistic view of the situation. Last year, French police arrested visiting BWin executives who were in France to promote a sponsorship deal with the AS Monaco football club. The French gambling authorities want to protect the state monopoly of online gambling services, and appear to be determined to aggressively pursue online gambling companies that advertise or do business in France.
PartyGaming withdrew from the French market following news of the reports that French authorities wanted to interview Anderson and a number of other online gambling executives.
888, along with PartyGaming, withdrew from the US market last year following the signing of the UIGEA into law. Lawyers for 888 are said to be considering the French interview request.
Industry analysts believe the company’s sponsorship of French football club Toulouse – which ended three months ago – was the likely reason for the interview request. PartyGaming has stated they have received no requests for interviews from the French authorities – this may be due to the fact that PartyGaming has not been very active in France in recent times.
The IrelandOnline website quoted Arbuthnot analyst Paul Leyland as saying: “888 has been one of the most vocal companies in defending its EU ‘free trade’ position. This approach is clearly far less sensational than the arrest of the Bwin CEOs but it underlines the fact that national governments do have the ability to restrict offshore operations. We doubt liberal interpretations of EU directives will cut much ice with the French government.”
The European Commission is investigating the situation in the European market. EC directives clearly state that individual member states cannot prevent international companies from providing gambling services to their citizens unless they ban all online gambling within their borders. The French and German positions on this issue appear to be in direct contrast with the European Commission.
PartyGaming chief executive officer Mitch Garber commented on the French situation yesterday in a preliminary results interview webcast on the company’s website. He addressed the fact that the online gambling industry is a fledgling industry and is progressing faster than some regulatory frameworks, and that it was ‘inevitable’ that the EU would rule for free trade, but that his company would respect the individual regulatory frameworks in the meantime.
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