France inspires hope amongst the online gambling sector.

The British market has matured for online gambling companies such as 888 Holdings, but a new door opens next year: France.

This country will launch their online gambling market next year.
The French parliament has fiercely debated the subject of legalising online gambling and although the legislation has not yet been passed, many are sure that it will be. This would lead to the end of the monopoly by the state lottery Groupe Francaise des Jeux y Pari Mutuel Urbain.

"The size of the population and the appetite for gambling is such that France is a particularly exciting place," the managing director of one of the biggest online gambling companies in the UK said in an interview with the news agency Bloomberg.

According to the consultancy H2 Gambling Capital, if the new legislation is approved electronic sales from online gambling in France could reach 671 million euros in 2010. In 2011 they claim the market would be valued at 1,000 million euros, an additional increase of 53 percent.

France initiated their plans for regulating the industry in response to more than 25,000 illegal online gambling sites accessible in the country, i.e. 75% of all websites accessible in the country, stated the Treasury Minister, Eric Woerth.

France is not the only European nation on the road to legalising this industry. The Belgians are moving ever closer to being able to gamble on the internet. The Belgian parliament has passed a draft law advocating the legalisation of online gambling.

"We need to assure the player that the game is for real and that he is playing a game just like he would with a human, and not with a programmed machine," Etienne Marique, president of the Commission of games of chance of the Belgian parliament, has said.

The Belgian authorities have decided to assess those companies that are planning to enter the Belgian market to ensure they offer financial transparency and are solvent.

The first European countries to legalise online gambling were England and Italy.

Each year, internet gambling generates 12,000 million dollars (8,000 million euros) around the world, according to figures provided by the industry.  - - The French parliament has fiercely
debated the subject of legalising online gambling. Although the legislation has not yet been passed, many are sure that it will be. This would lead to the end of the monopoly by the state lottery Groupe Francaise des Jeux y Pari Mutuel Urbain. - The French authorities are studying the possibility of legalising online gambling.