Ongame chief: opportunity in France lies with poker
Ongame chief Martin Lerby has argued that yesterday's first wave of French licences has re-emphasised that near-term opportunities in the re-regulated market reside with poker, not sports betting.
Yesterday’s French licence approvals have re-emphasised that the immediate opportunity in the newly regulated market lies with poker, according to Ongame Network head Martin Lerby.
On French regulator ARJEL’s issue of seven licences for online poker yesterday, compared to 10 for sports and pari-mutuel horse race betting, Lerby (pictured) said: “Everything has been rushed out for 11 June to be ready for the World Cup, as the French authorities have promised that is when the first licence will be issued.
“But the sports betting tax of 8.5% eats up the margin you would normally have. Poker has the biggest potential, at least in the early phase of the regulated market, as there is also so much more competition around sports betting.”
Lerby however cautioned that the success of the re-regulated French poker market would also depend on what the French regulators did to “hinder the operators that will operate without French licences.” ARJEL is known to have discussed pooling French poker liquidity with that of the ring-fenced Italian poker market with the Italian Gaming Authority.
Regulated real money poker in France is currently scheduled to go live on 28 June, following ARJEL’s publication of the poker decree, with two of the licences going to Ongame Network owner Bwin. Unibet announced yesterday it would be joining Ongame’s French network in the third quarter of 2010, once regulatory clearance had been obtained.