The French have always loved gaming, gambling and betting. Their history with it goes back to the 14th century, when the French added the Queen card to the standard deck. The roulette wheel was developed by the French in the 17th century, and pari-mutuel betting in the 1800s lead the way in betting. The legal age for gambling in France is 18 years old, which had been lowered in 1987 and hasn’t fluctuated since. Throughout the nation, there is some fairly strict governmental control over the gambling industry, though the online gambling market has been opened to offshore competitors and companies.
The French government has worked hard to maintain a monopoly on their local casinos. They primarily did this in order to prevent problem gambling, as well as to keep the profits going towards the state. Though each type of gambling has had to be legalized and sanctioned by the justice minister as they come about, there is an abundance of casinos, lotteries, slots, horse races and card games. The government keeps a close eye on the gambling industry, which holds 160 licensed state casinos. Le Pari Mutuel Urbain reigns the French sports betting areas of the gambling industry, while La Francaisse des Jeux conducts all the betting activities and lotteries that take place.
The topic of online gambling has been a difficult one, surrounded by touch laws and regulation confusion. As of 2010, there were new laws set into place that allowed online casinos, sports betting companies and poker sites to advertise their services in competition with local French gambling websites. However, these websites must obtain a license, which can prove difficult due to the tough restrictions that are placed on the operators. French casinos, on the other hand, are widely accessible, and offer a wide variety of gaming options. There are over 100 online casino websites in France that offer French players a way of gaming together in their native tongue, and using their native currency.
Online Gambling Requirements
Of the numerous French online casino websites, there are a wide variety of games. Online gambling was quickly accepted in 2005, after the European Commission inspected the market. They found that it wasn’t in line with the European Union’s gambling regulations. In turn, they passed the French Gambling Act, which authorized an Autorite de Regulation des Jeux en Ligne to be the regulation authority of online gambling. Upon the implementation of the FGA, they began to add more games to what’s available with online gambling. For example, online poker games offer Texas Hold’Em and Omaha. However, they want to include Five-Card Study, Razz, Omaha-8, Seven-Card Stud and mixed games.
Online gambling websites in France are typically powered by the most popular software groups, such as Micrograming. They accept payment through a few preferred methods including debit card, credit card, Entropay and PaySafe cards. The online poker regulators are required to pay a 2% tax on each poker pot or tournament prize that they win. Sports betters pay 8.5% tax for each sport or horseracing bet.