Criticism of the French online gaming market is usually free flowing enough that you can find articles on it wherever you want. If only they’d decided to not go for such exorbitant tax rates they might actually have some friends left. Right now they might feel like going to a supermarket dating session could do them some good, even if they do have to wear a sticker saying “I’m single.”
The flack they’re receiving doesn’t look like abating at any point soon, but for once it isn’t the tax rates that are being criticized. The French Competition Authority (FCS) already flagged up their serious concerns with the operations carried out by the former monopolies of Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) and Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) last month. Now another group is further adding weight to the argument.
French group Collectif Libre Choix (the Free Choice Collective) have told PMU to change the name that they use to conduct online activities so that it doesn’t benefit unfairly from the advantages it built up as the former monopoly provider it once was.
Those in the collective include online operator Zeturf, and energy company Gaz de Paris, and their main concern centers on new companies not being able to compete with the former monopolies due to their reputations in the industry.
Is this why bwin and PartyGaming have resisted calls to change their name to Pwin? It seems we may well have uncovered something here!
