Sporting Bet put a hold on their plans to move into the French Market
27th November, 2009
eGaming Review can reveal that Sporting Bet have put their plans to move into the French market on hold due to the uncerrtainty of the market after announcing only last month that it intends to expand into the French market to assist with expansion plans.
The French betting market has undergone some severe changes and these have had a major impact on those operators that currently hold a large market share in France. The changes that will be voted at the start of next year, would mean that operators such as Bwin and Unibet, who currently have an excessive market share in France will no longer be able to take on French players once they are licensed five to six months later. These rules have been implemented with the intention to help French monopolies stabilise and maintain their online customer bases.
Despite these changes there are still some operators that are going to brave the doubtful market and are certain that their plans to launch into the French market will still go ahead, however some have approached entry into the market in a slightly different, like Paddy Power who have approached the market with a business to business strategy.
The chief executive of Sporting Bet, Andrew McIver, spoke exclusively to EGR magazine explaining that the plan to expand into the French market had been postponed until further clues as to how the gaming regulation will be at the start of next year.
McIver went on to say, “We are now not sure what we’re going to do. The situation has changed so many times that we still can’t be sure what the best course for us to take is. I suspect that to offer an off-shore model into France could be seen as aggressive by the French authorities and it could end up as a case of warfare. And that could become difficult, as Petter Nylander found out in Holland.” So it seems that the outcome of Sporting Bet’s plan will not be revealed until early on next year!
By Gina
