Jean-Francois Vilotte to lead new French online gambling regulatory authority
An official associated with the French Tennis Federation (FFT) has been chosen to set up France’s new regulatory authority for online gambling – despite the FFT chief’s previous role as a plaintiff in litigation against a number of would-be French licencees.
The government has appointed the FFT’s secretary general Jean-Francois Vilotte to be in charge of establishing the authority that will licence and regulate private companies in the newly-liberalised sector.
The creation of a new regulatory authority for online gambling – l’autorité administrative indépendante de régulation des jeux en ligne, ARJEL – was confirmed by France’s budget minister Eric Woerth recently.
Last year the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) had failed in its attempt to prevent online betting companies from taking bets on the French Open tennis tournament. The case, brought in the Belgian court, had aimed to prevent Ladbrokes, along with Bwin and Betfair, from accepting bets on the event from Belgian residents.
