The news was confirmed by the Minister of Budget, Antoine Saint-Martin.
France.- Following the controversy among physical casinos regarding the news that the French government was considering legalizing online casinos next year, it was finally revealed that the initiative will not proceed.
As reported by international media, the Budget Minister, Antoine Saint-Martin, explained this Saturday that the government's plan to include an amendment in this regard in the state Budget bill for 2025 has been discarded.
“I believe there needs to be coordination with other potentially affected ministerial departments, I think we must first work among ourselves,” acknowledged the minister, recalling that the Government wanted to approve this authorization to regulate and control online gambling, which is already practiced irregularly with entities located abroad.
It is worth noting that online casinos remain illegal in France despite the regulation of sports betting and online poker. The national regulator, the ANJ, recently announced a campaign against unlicensed operators, seeking to clarify to the public that the sector is illegal.
The government pointed out that the lack of a regulated online casino segment in France had led to a strong illegal offer estimated to generate between EUR748m and EUR1.500m.
The government considered that the regulation of online casinos could generate EUR1.000m. According to the proposed wording that has already been discarded, online casino operators would have paid 27 percent of the gross gaming revenue. The total tax rate in the vertical would have been 55.6 percent.
See also: E-commerce in Spain: gambling leads the number of transactions
The physical casino body Casinos de France had expressed opposition to the measure and had requested that physical casino operators receive three years of exclusivity in the online casino market. Additionally, they claimed that a competitive market would cause the government to lose approximately EUR450m in tax revenues from physical casinos.
Marco Emilio Hincapié participated in the VII International Congress Against Money Laundering.
Dominican Republic.- During the VII International Congress Against Money Laundering held in the Dominican Republic, the president of Coljuegos, Marco Emilio Hincapié, presented to experts from Latin American countries the strategy to fight illegality in the Colombian industry, through which it has been possible to combat criminal structures that operate betting without authorization.
The head of the Colombian gaming regulatory body outlined the advances in the implementation of the Comprehensive System for the Prevention and Control of Money Laundering, the Financing of Terrorism, and the Financing of the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (SIPLAFT).
In his presentation, Hincapié said: “This year, the gambling sector will exceed COP1bn (USD229m) in transfers to the health system. That is why we are focusing our efforts on fighting illegality and corruption, and on strengthening the industry”.
Among the results presented by the president of the entity are the destruction of 8,317 elements of gambling that operated illegally in more than 15 departments of the country, and that failed to transfer around COP260.000m (USD59.2m) to health each year.
Also, Hincapié mentioned that, during 2024, the entity has seized 3,200 electronic slot machines, bingos, and internet betting modules that operated without authorization from Coljuegos.
Additionally, the entity transferred 366 criminal processes to the Attorney General's Office for investigation of those responsible for operating illegal games in Colombia.
See also: How the Artificial Intelligence Center of Coljuegos works, designed to combat illegality
“We also had the opportunity to present our process of technological transformation and organizational restructuring, through which we have improved the surveillance and control of resources coming from the industry,” stated Hincapié.
And he added: “To this, we add our efforts with the UNODC to define a roadmap that will allow us to mitigate the risks of corruption and money laundering in the gambling sector in Colombia. This strategy is an example for other countries that also suffer from these scourges.”
The VII International Congress Against Money Laundering is an event organized by the Financial Analysis Unit of the Dominican Republic. The meeting was attended by experts from public and private entities of the continent who work to prevent the financial sector from being permeated by illicit activities.
