French Regulator Promises First Licenses Before The World Cup

ARJEL says its target is first two weeks of June

Online gambling operators who have been anxiously watching the progress of the new French regulator ARJEL will be relieved to hear that it is confident it will "deliver first agreements to operators in the first two weeks of June," meaning that French betting on the World Cup will be possible.

RapidTV news reports that the regulator has dealt with applications from 20 major companies going after 30 online gambling licenses. The news station reports that among the applicants are PMU (sports betting); Bwin (sports betting and poker); BetClic (sports betting, horse racing and poker); and Everest Poker (poker).

The World Cup football epic kicks off in South Africa on June 11.