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The opening of Internet gamblingin France is finally scheduled for June 2010. We should be ready with licenses issued, for the Football World Cup, according to Budget Minister Eric Woerth. The next significant stage will be the examination of the Bill by the deputies on the 7th and 8th of October.
This scheduled opening is starting to whet appetites. Future President of Internet gambling self-regulation Jean-Fran?ois Vilotte assesses of about a hundred, or more, the number of license requests that could be registered. Knowing that an operator will have to apply for a license for all kind of game: horseracing bets, sport and poker bets. Now that they are facing competition, historical operators (such as PMU, la Fran?aise des Jeux, and casino owners), which are still the only ones allowed to offer Internet gambling, are preparing their revenche.
Already part of online sport bets, la Fran?aise des Jeux is ready to bet on poker in order to widen its bid. An interest carried out in May 2009, thanks to the signature of an agreement with Californian company Cyber Art, a poker software supplier.

Will la Fran?aise des Jeux do it by itself or will it do it along side with a more experienced partner in those circle games? A partnership with the company Barri?re is a possibility. According to Barri?re President Dominique Desseigne, one the French most powerful casino owners, It is obvious to become allies with la Fran?aise des Jeux in the poker industry. If he ratifies the existence of negotiations and its interest in such a partnership, however, he hastens to add that everybody is discussing with everybody.”