Bwin Amongst First French Licensees
8th June, 2010
Bwin is the only non French online gaming operator to be part of the first wave online gaming licenses handed out by French regulator ARJEL according to eGaming Review.
The operator of Austrian origin received a license to offer poker and sports betting to the French market both direct through its own BES SAS subsidiary and in partnership with the Amaury Group. The only other operator which has significant business outside of France to be granted a license was the Mangas Gaming owned, Everest Poker.
Other major online gaming operators have entered the French market on a B2B basis through partnerships with licensed operators. These include PartyGaming through its poker JV with PMU, Paddy Power who will provide fixed odds pricing and risk management also with PMU and Unibet who will provide pools based betting through France Pari. Software provider Orbis will provide PMU with a sports betting platform.
Alex Dreyfus, the CEO of ChiliGaming, who has been awarded a sports betting licence through French telecoms and ISP Iliad said that the pair had been working“18 months on this project to be one of the first to have a licence.”
However he added that the ‘very tough’ technological and compliance requirements meant they wouldn’t be ready to go like before the World Cup on Friday.
He remarked about the fact only one non French operator was in the first round of licenses granted, “I think it was a first filter. But they are going to issue more licences at the end of the month,” he added.
