Francaise des Jeux Online Gaming Launch in the Offing

French gaming monopoly operator Francaise des Jeux is expected to go live with its online gaming offering this summer in play-money form. The company is seeking to build an online customer base prior to the opening of the market next year.

The company has been working closely with CyberArts on development of its online poker offering. Ken Arnold, Chairman of CyberArts announced this week, “We are committed to having FDJ live with a fully-functioning cash poker site the first day of legal operations in France. And we have the technology and experience to meet the strictest of regulatory requirements.”

CyberArts is the provider of the platform for Italy’s largest and first market operator, Gioco Digitale. CyberArts said that as in the case of Gioco, FDJ may launch this summer with a play-money site to build market share prior to the cash poker launch.

As more state operators are set to enter the online gaming market, the pure-play platform provider believes it is in an advantageous position versus a number of its competitors, in that it has never acted as an operator.

“This is an exciting time in online gaming as a second wave of large trusted brands begins to provide gaming in new jurisdictions with government authority,” said Arnold. “There’s a real advantage to companies like ours that cannot only meet the rigorous technical requirements, but as never having been operators we’ve never run into any issues with licensing authorities.” 

FDJ is also expected to soon go live with a play-money version of online bingo, having signed a licensing agreement with Isle of Man based platform provider Nyx Interactive. Nyx already provides online bingo to another state-controlled gaming operator, Sweden’s Svenska Spel.

As private European operators struggle to build market share under the restrictive gaming laws currently in force in France, FDJ’s play-money offering will provide it with an opportunity to build an online customer base legally prior to market liberalization. It will also help to iron out any technical and operational issues prior to launching real-money gaming next year, when the country’s new gaming law comes into force.

Written for Online Keno by Joy