France hasn’t really had the best of starts since the gaming market in the country was regulated earlier this year. ARJEL’s forecasts for the size the market would reach were grossly inaccurate. Many of the operators in France used the Monaco iGaming Exchanges to complain at the high taxes involved, including Nicolas Beraud of Magnas Gaming, and Emmanuel de Rohan Chabot of ZEturf to name just a couple.
It’s won’t come as a huge surprise to most then that British bookmaker Ladbrokes have announced they won’t be pursuing their joint venture with broadcaster Canal+. The reason they gave for this was tax conditions making the venture unviable. Although none of this has stopped the green logoed company Unibet wanting to give France a go. Whether it’s the cuisine or the French accent they can’t get enough of, not many companies are likely to follow their lead.
Add to this the fact they can’t launch their core casino product, 25% was wiped from their share price upon the announcement they’d be entering France, and you can see why it’s not the best of ideas. They really have as much chance of success here as they have sponsoring the Philadelphia Eagles uniform and getting them to change to a lime green colour scheme.
