A consortium of French casinos are pursuing court action against some big name online operators claiming illegal competition.
Barrière, Joagroupe, Tranchant and the Casinos de France trade union are appealing to a Paris court to rule that 14 online gambling operators, including Bwin, 888, Unibet and Sportingbet be disallowed from participating in up-coming licensing process for a period of 2 years.
They allege that since the online operators are already accepting bets from French residents, they are 'deliberately violating French legislation on games of chance'. French authorities have already warned operators against jumping the gun on their soon to be implemented regulatory regime. But warnings to date have concerned operators engaging in mainstream advertising in France, and not accepting bets from French players.
No doubt Unibet and co., will argue they are in compliance with EU freedom of services laws and any ruling preventing participation in the licensing process will be discriminatory.
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