After several postponements, on February 24th the French Senate approved the rules for online gaming. It took over 4 months to get the vote of senators after the National Assembly had approved the bill in mid-October 2009.

In order for online gaming to be legalized, the decree must still pass the following phases: a second reading and approval of the National Assembly on March 30; approval from the European Union; approval of the Council of State and finally an OK by the Constitutional Court.

The clock is ticking, especially for operators who are interested in launching sites for the soccer World Cup which begins June 11.

The decree requires operators interested in working with the local market to obtain a French license. License from one of the other 27 countries that are part of the EU will not be considered valid by the French authorities.

Eric Woerth, Minister of Budget, expected about 50 operators to make a request for obtaining a French license. Currently in France there are about 20,000 active operators which are considered illegal.

According to data collected by only two licensed operators, Française des Jeux and Paris Mutuel Urbain, 30 million French people have played through these two operators and they have spent 21 billion Euros.