French monopoly moving fast in online preparations

With the liberalisation of the French online gambling market now in sight on January 2010, it is clear that the state gambling monopoly Francaise des Jeux is preparing to meet competition head on through a series of agreements and promotional deals.
The latest deal, for an online bingo operation through Sweden’s NYX Interactive, follows an announcement a few days ago that the US poker software provider Cyberarts is to provide FdeJ with online poker facilities, probably in free-to-play form initially, but gearing up to full real money action when the market opens.
In the  NYX deal, an online bingo site could be up for promotional purposes within the next week or two. The Swedish provider is well-versed in handling state-controlled entities, having worked closer to home on a bingo product for Svenska Spel, the Swedish government’s gambling monopoly.
Stefan Lindgren, CEO at NYX says: “Providing our bingo solution to two major state operators such as FDJ and Svenska Spel gives us great confidence in what we are doing. The time and effort FDJ has put into developing this latest product with us I believe will have a significant effect on the industry.”
Side games in the FdeJ deal will include lottery and scratchcard-type products, as French legislation will not presently allow casino games such as roulette and blackjack.

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