French Gambling Update

We recently reported that various French gambling companies were manouevring for strong positioning when the French gambling liberalises early next year. Examples of companies involved in a number initiatives included the Cyberarts and NYX Interactive deals with state monopoly Francaise des Jeux for

online poker and bingo respectively. These were preceded by news that the French horseracing monopoly Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) had signed an agreement with Tote Ireland allowing account holders to bet into live pools on French racing, a deal that could benefit Betfair due to its relationship with Tote Ireland in respect of online betting.

Pari Mutuel Urbain was in the headlines again as the week ended on the news that the giant organisation is considering an entry into sportsbetting in the new French dispensation.

PMU's chief operating officer Xavier Hurstel confirmed the interest to igamingfrance.com, commenting that a new offering was under development which would enable the PMU to broaden its offering to include betting on major sports such as football.

Hurstel also revealed that the horseracing monopoly has acquired an interest in race information provider Genycourses to improve its access to online betting information, although he added that he was not aware of any other immediate plans for further partnerships, although many companies in the market were holding discussions.

Cryptologic 14 top games to be provided to Loto-Quebec - 02/08/2012 : The companies have signed a multi-year agreement that will see Cryptologic providing a portfolio of quality games to the Societe du jeu virtuel du Quebec, the online gaming division of the provincial state lottery corporation Loto-Quebec, known as Espacejeux.

Utah : Online Gambling : HB108 - 02/08/2012 : An intrastate attempt by Utah politician Stephen Sandstrom to introduce state legislation banning any legalisation of internet gambling has failed at the start gate.

MORE U.S. DISCUSSION ON INTERNET GAMBLING DUE THIS WEEK - 02/08/2012 : Interest in online gambling in the United States is set to continue on Thursday this week when the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs meets to hear the views of a wide cross section of interested parties on the possible impact of legalised internet gambling on tribal gaming.

Judge wont dismiss DoJ Black Friday charges - 02/08/2012 : Former Utah banker John Campos and e-processor Chad Elie, who face charges relating to the payment processing of online poker transactions, suffered a setback Tuesday when a Manhattan judge refused to allow their motion for dismissal of Black Friday indictments against them.

ANOTHER MAJOR INTERNET GAMBLING BUST IN MALAYSIA - 02/08/2012 : Police units in Malaysia raided a series of premises in a week long anti-online gambling operation, seizing 225 computers and detaining 47 men, according to reports from the Bernama news agency. All of the detained men were later released on bail.