The Vienna-listed online betting giant Bwin is planning to restart its French online gambling services as soon as the recently passed liberalisation legislation (see previous bulletins) has been implemented and licensing is opened, reports the newspaper Die Presse.
Bwin, which had an unhappy joust with French authoritarianism some years ago over football advertising that resulted in the brief detention of its joint CEOs, hopes to obtain a licence before the summer, the group’s investor relations manager Konrad Sveceny told the newspaper.
The detentions led to Bwin withdrawing from the sector, but the group is now ready to compete again after signing a joint venture agreement with the publisher of French sports newspaper L’Equipe .
“We have long fought for liberalisation [of the French online gambling market] and obviously think this is a good decision,” Sveceny said.