SPORTS BETTING IN FRANCE

Thibault VerbiestPartner, Ulys

thibault.verbiest@ulys.netwww.gaminglaw.eu

3rd Legal Gaming Summit 26 January 2009

London

TOWARDS A HARMONISED EU GAMING LAW

November 2008: Report from the French presidency on the 27 legal frameworks for gambling.

Significant similarities between these policies.

Planned cooperation on: money laundering, fraud and corruption

cap on pay-outs

end of double taxation

TO BE CONTINUED…

CASE-LAW:

FRENCH GAMBLING LAW

ZETURF

Cour de Cassation, 10 July 2007PMU had sued Zeturf - condemned by Paris Court of Appeal.Cour de Cassation overturns Court of Appeal’s decision (EU arguments):Questions the “raison d’être” of the Horse-Race monopoly in the light of ECJ case-law: is the barrier to free provision of services justified and necessary?Questions proportionality of the blanket prohibition – need to check if the MS of origin protects consumers.

MR. BOOKMAKER2002: PMU lodges a complaint against Mr Bookmaker

2004: FDJ lodges a complaint against Mr Bookmaker

2005: Unibet buys Mr. Bookmaker

April 2007: French gaming police requests interviews with Didier Dewyn and Petter Nylander

Dewyn is interviewed by the police, heard by a judge, and released on bail (€ 150,000)

MR.BOOMAKER

Petter Nylander did not attend (claims EU defence)

22 October 2007: European arrest warrant against Petter Nylander. Arrested in Amsterdam and released on bail.

25 October 2007: extradited to France.

31 October: released on bail + promise to meet the judge when requested to.

MR. BOOKMAKER

C.A.Versailles,18 January 2008

Not enough material to decide whether French gaming laws comply with E.U. law.The court orders further investigation including interviewing members of the government.

= de facto WAIT AND SEE situation for French Courts.

CASE-LAW:

FRENCH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW

TGI Paris, 30 Jan. 2008: Juventus c. Unibet & William Hill

Right to information vs. Copyright

Juventus argues that Unibet and William Hill violates its copyright by using it on their websites…

Whereas Unibet and William Hill argue that they only use that name for identification purposes.

Court says: the use of a brand’s name must be strictly limited to sports betting activities.

Not the case when operators use that name for advertising purposes.

JUVENTUS V. UNIBET and WILLIAM HILL

FFT V. UNIBET and EXPEKTTGI Paris, 30 May 2008

FFT owns several brands including “French Open” and “Roland Garros”

Unibet and Expekt use these brands to identify the events.

FFT says that French Sports Code grants them the right to exploit the events they organise.

The tribunal condemns the operators for violation of sports code.

PSG v. UNIBET and BWINTGI, Paris, 17 June 2008

PSG owns the brand and says that operators use its brand for their own commercial benefit.Unibet: same defence as previouslyThe tribunal says that the use of the brand is not abusive since the football club has to be identified by its brand and Unibet and Bwin do not unduly benefit from the club investments.

CONCLUSION

Same courts = different decisions

Next gaming legislation needs to organise the exploitation of such events through: the recognition a right for sport events organisers

to be directly paid for any exploitation of their event or,

sponsorship or, a contribution of operators to a global fund which

will serve for all sports.

Thank you for your attention!

Thibault VerbiestPartner, Ulys www.ulys.net

www.gaminglaw.eu