The Emergence Of French Gambling Legal Framework

France can be with no exaggeration called as the birthplace of modern gaming. It was Paris back in the middle of the XVII century to be the first casino in Europe. J.B. Colbert, Chief Financial curator, made the decision to take drastic measures for the sake of filling the treasury. Visitors were offered a wide selection of card games, as well as a new invention, Roulette.

Entrepreneurs have assessed the ultimate potential of business and started opening new gambling houses. However, the development was interrupted after the revolution, following a decree forbidding gambling. Under Napoleon I the attitude towards gambling was milder, but not for long. After that, only in 1861, Maurice Blanc received approval to open a casino in Monaco. It’s only been 7 years, and the town of Monte Carlo gained worldwide fame. It still remains the gambling capital of Europe though, and the industry of gambling constitutes 7% of Monaco budget.

The law on gambling in 1907

In 1884 gambling suffered another critical blow: the French National Assembly has put gambling under a ban, which was a painful move especially for the resorts. As a result, recreational areas experienced a deflux in guests, a large number of whom, as it turned out, was primarily interested in gambling. The fruitless attempts to prove the necessity of lifting the ban lasted for 20 years. Only in 1907 the head of the French Ministry of the Interior Clemenceau analyzed the situation and made considerable effort to legalize gambling in the resorts. In the same year a law was passed with some amendments, acting till nowadays.

Finally, National Assembly allowed casinos at resorts, though authorities hoped to banish them to the outskirts of the country, but didn’t manage to make the plan happen. This adjustment was successfully used by resort town of Engen, located just 15 kilometers away from Paris.

It became popular among the inhabitants of the capital, although the casino immediately gained bad reputation. Metropolitan press accused the government of corruption and connivance of gambling, distracting people from the normal life. The public opinion was not ignored, and in 1920 the law was amended: opening any form of gambling enterprise was prohibited within 100 km from Paris.

At first, the casino were allowed to organize competitions between the visitors. Only with the 1931 amendment blackjack and roulette were legalized, but not even everywhere (in Enghien les Bains, for example, the entertainment became legal only in 1981).

A decline of the industry

Because of the constant wars in the gaming industry, gambling is constantly trying to recover from this or that crisis. French authorities make traditionally rigid decision as for gambling; even though online gambling legalization was almost in a place, EU Commission required further investigation and placed a veto on the highly anticipated legalizing law. Thus, as you can see on www.svenskkasinon.se gambling analytics portal in Sweden, the imbalanced legislation contributes to the fact that French gamblers flow to the neighboring Dutch, and also prefer offshore-based online services providers to the national ones.