Malta's gambling standards not met by French licensees

The French online gambling market has already issued gaming licenses for Arjel, an online gambling provider. According to the online gambling regulator of France, the first set of licenses was issued about three weeks ago, but the issuance of the second set of licenses has been delayed due to the objectives from Malta.

Ruben Portanier, the CEO of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority in Malta told casinoadvisor.com: "the government objected on the basis that there were certain elements within their poker regulations which Malta felt were not consistent with EU treaty provisions." One of the elements purportedly under dispute is the French law that requires players to choose an operator that has a French license for online poker. This is contradictory to EU regulations. The objections were filed under the confidentiality clause so the above reasons are pure speculation and Portanier has declined comment.

PokerStars, the largest online poker room available, was given a license to operate in France. Other licensees are reported to include Chili Poker for an online poker license through Gaming Iliad SAS, Partouche for an online poker license through Partouche Gaming France SAS and FriendBet for a sports betting license through LIL Managers Limited.

The sports betting licenses have not been complicated by Malta's complaint and they can commence operations at any time. The poker room licenses are the ones that have come under dispute and their old and new licensees will be delayed pending the outcome of Malta's complaint to the European Commission.

Potanier was asked whether the objections from Malta were due to unwanted competition. In response, he stated: "Maltese licenses are issued to operators in and from Malta, in compliance with EU regulations while French licenses are issued for companies to operate in France only." He continued that "it is not a case of Malta being afraid of competition, but everyone must ensure the game is fair, ruling out abuse, while trying to eliminate gamblers and strictly not allowing children to play."

Portanier continued on that Malta is a veteran in its field with far more experience than other jurisdictions. He expressed confidence that Malta has the best jurisdiction and that this will become evident when the industry chooses the best jurisdiction.