The third major media deal in a week for liberated French gambling market

4/8/10 - Industry observers have for some time been predicting that major media companies will become a growing and influential force in the online gambling industry, and it certainly appears from recent deals between Internet betting firms and major newspapers and television stations that this coming about.

This week alone the attractions of a liberated French online gambling milieu have seen Ladbrokes team with Channel CANAL+ and Bwin revitalise its partnership with L'Equipe sports news publications, and in the latest development the French online gambling group Mangas Gaming has announced a collaborative deal with France's second most popular television network through the Metropole 6 Group.

Mangas subsidiaries include Everest Poker, Expekt, Bet-at-home and Betclic, and the 4 year agreement calls for Everest and Betclic to present their betting services on M6's network of websites, and sponsor poker and sports content across M6's nine digital channels.

Of course, all of this activity is subject to the betting companies achieving licensing status with French regulator ARJEL once it starts the licensing process.

Mangas group chief executive Nicolas Béraud said: "We are delighted about the visibility M6 will provide to our brands and services on both its channels and websites, especially in the poker segment."

Valéry Gerfaud, md of Metropole 6 said: "We have chosen to actively participate in the growth of the online gaming industry by joining our forces to the leading French sports betting and online gambling group and providing our know-how in contents creation and interactivity."

In earlier InfoPowa reports we flagged Internet gaming deals that involved a number of large media companies, including TF1, Eurosport TV channel and the The Poker Channel, along with several bingo and sports deals with major UK newspapers. The UK interactive television and online gambling group NetplayTV has also been very active in the online gambling space recently.

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