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Sportingbet, one of biggest online bookies, announced last month that it intends to enter the French market, but it has now been made public that the plans to do so have been put on hold due to the uncertainty of the market.

The French betting market has gone through some severe changes and these have had a major impact on those operators that currently possess a large market share in France. The changes that will be voted at the beginning of 2009 would mean that operators such as Bwin and Unibet, who currently hold a considerable market share in France will no longer be able to take on French players once they are licensed five to six months later. These regulations have been enforced with the intention to help French monopolies to keep their online clients.

Nevertheless, some online sportsbooks are still going to take a chance and enter this unstable market. However, some bookmakers have decided to approach French market in a different way. Paddy Power decided to approach the market with a business to business strategy.

Andrew McIver, the chief executive of Sportingbet, explained that the plan to expand into the French market had been postponed until further clues as to how the gaming regulation will be in the beginning of 2010.

Mr. McIver also said, “We are now not sure what we’re going to do. The situation has changed so many times that we still can’t be sure what the best course for us to take is. I suspect that to offer an off-shore model into France could be seen as aggressive by the French authorities and it could end up as a case of warfare. And that could become difficult, as Petter Nylander found out in Holland.”

It seems that Sportingbet will make its decision regarding French market in the beginning of the next year.

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