Malta-based online gambling operator Vbet has received a license to offer online sports betting in France’s regulated market.
Last week, French gaming regulator ARJEL announced that Vivaro Betting Ltd, which operates the Vbet.com betting site, has been issued an online sports betting license valid for five years. The Vbet.fr site has yet to launch, but its eventual arrival will bring the total number of French-licensed online betting operators to 14.
Vivaro was founded in Armenia in 2003 and has since acquired online licenses in Malta, Curacao and, as of summer 2016, in the United Kingdom. Their betting platform is powered by technology provider Betconstruct. Vivaro has yet to indicate whether it plans to pursue a French online poker license.
France’s regulated online gambling market got off to an extremely shaky start due to its high taxes and restrictions on product variety but has lately shown signs of life, particularly in the sports betting vertical, which posted record turnover and revenue numbers in Q2 2017.
France’s online poker market has only recently offered indications that its multi-year decline may not in fact be terminal, but true salvation isn’t expected until the long-awaited plans to share liquidity with other European regulated markets (Italy, Spain, Portugal) get underway.
In July, ARJEL began accepting applications from its poker licensees to participate in the liquidity sharing plans, and the regulator expressed hope that poker players would be sharing cross-border pools by the end of the year. However, last week an ARJEL rep told attendees at the World Regulatory Briefing in London that the regulator couldn’t rule out this momentous event not occurring until the “first half of 2018.” C’est la guerre…
In other French betting news, the Better Collective affiliate marketing group just announced that it has acquired French affiliate Pull Media, which operates over 200 sites, most of which are sportsbook-related, and which also cater to punters in the Germany and the UK. The deal marks Better Collective’s first foray into the French market, building on its existing presence in other major European jurisdictions.
