Fixed odds gets foot in door in France.

At last a foot in the door to break the French blind tote punting, its only sport at this stage but nothing more frustrating than having no odds indicator when having a punt.

French online betting market is opened up

France: France is preparing for an internet betting bonanza after the nation's online betting market was opened up on Tuesday, when the legislation to end a century of pari-mutuel monopoly received the green light in the Chambres des Deputes (House of Commons).

Members of Parliament voted 299 to 223 in favourof the bill, which means that new operators in France could be up and running for the World Cup in South Africa, starting on June 11.

The French online betting market is estimated to be worth around 10 per cent of Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU, the off-course tote) turnover, slightly over €9.3 billion in 2009 but growing fast.

Applications for licences to take online bets in France on horseracing, other sports and poker will be made to a new regulation body called ARJEL. Initially they will be granted for periods of five years.

In a bid to safeguard racing's revenue streams, only a mutuel system will be legal for bets taken on horseracing, but fixed odds will be allowed on sports like football, tennis, rugby and cycling.

In 2008, revenue generated by the PMU benefited racing to the tune of €736 million and a similar amount is expected for 2009.

As far as the potential new competition is concerned, the PMU intends to take on all-comers head on.

Chief executive Philippe Germond has already come to agreements with Paddy Power for fixed-odds advice, PartyGaming for poker expertise and Radio Monte Carlo (RMC) team for professional help with football.

The PMU hopes to retain 20- 25% of the online market.

I can't imagine anything more boring than racing without fixed odds. All betting would have to be done as they are loading else you have no idea what rate you getting.

It's going to be interesting to see if the interest in racing in France stays where it is when their gamblers have elsewhere to play.

It should be a test case for those who think we should move to a tote monopoly for our racing too.

Have to agree Jack, the one thing that shocked me on my visit was the punting on virtual dogs and horses but to me that is much the same as betting in SA on the tote for French racing, but the mind boggler was the exchanges (Betfair) have trading markets for "virtual" horse racing!!! I could not get my mind around that (must be getting old). :S

French racing has thrived despite the absence of the allegedly invaluable bookmaker. I hope they know what they are doing, because their "boring' system" has helped to give them the best racing in Europe.

Hi Magic we have had this conversation many times, French racing is superb plus the camera work.

My problem when in SA and you are looking at the local tote scroll it gives you no indication of what the horses chances are.

If they had the French tote scrolling at the bottom of the page that would be acceptable rather than the local tote where a grand win can change an actual 10/1 horse into a 5/10 fav

Agreed, Dave. However, from the French point of view they could give a hoot what it says on SA television screens. If I were an owner in France I would be troubled by the prospect of bookmakers horning in and affecting the stakes pot. It may be impossible to remove bookies from countries that currently have them, but those that don't must think very very carefully before they allow them a foot in the door. It may even turn out to be a positive, but looking at the comparative wealth of French and UK racing I frankly don't see how allowing fixed odds betting could do anything except harm French racing. II could be wrong, and I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but they have the healthiest racing in the EU and for what reason would anybody in their right mind seek to follow the example of the UK and its piss poor prize money?

Not that it is any real concern of ours, and at any rate fixed odds betting on French racing is still in the future if it happens at all. From a purely neutral point of view, though, I get the feeling that they are playing with fire - and we know what the usual end result of that is. Burnt fingers, and all.

Do you think french racing is thriving Magic? in what way? the last report i read on french racing was that they were toiling to get 2 men and thier dogs to attend the track..

I would say that it's thriving by European standards simply from the point of view that their stakes, at any rate for ordinary races, are the best on the continent by some way, as far as I can tell. Getting people to the track on days other than big days is becoming more and more irrelevant. Who cares if the stands are packed at Musselburgh if you are racing for a good deal less than an equivalent race would win you in front of an empty grandstand at, say, Vichy or Compiegne?

Or are bookmakers going to bring people back to the course in droves? I remember years ago that one of the excuses tendered for the continued existence of bookies is that they added atmosphere to the racecourse and attracted people. Really? We still have bookies in SA but on most days the courses resemble Hiroshima the day after the bomb dropped.

I know that this debate is not to be over simplified, but find me a country where bookmakers have been good for racing's finances and then explain why almost all of the the wealthiest racing nations on earth thrive so beautifully without them. Of course, there are bookmaker-free countries where the sport is on very shakey ground indeed, Italy being a prime example, but from my admittedly limited knowledge of the subject I would far rather base a string of horses in France than in the UK. This may not only be down to the presence or absence of bookmakers, but it is surely a major difference between the two countries.

In England you can dream of earning 10 000 Euros for winning a minor race at a provincial track, the equivalent of say a Nottingham or Leicester, but in France it is common place. Why on earth would they willingly want to jeopardise it, even if there are no doubt more than one reason for the disparity.

Oh well, as I said before, it's not our problem and we can keep the debate on an academic level.

I would have thought that if you do not have bookmakers already,the most natural way to include fixed odds would be to" bolt on " a betting exchange...being merely a smooth extension of facilitating betting between punters !

Special Duty is a special filly


Special Duty the 1000 guineas fav runs in the Maisons-Laffitte: Prix Imprudence (Group 3) tomorrow the flat starts proper magic!

About time!

I agree fully with Magic, a tote monopoly is great for owners.

But as far as my racing goes, I spend 99% of my time as a gambler and 1% of my time as an owner. (I am about to relocate that 1% interest out of Cape Town to what in my view is the land of opportunity in Gauteng.)

Magic, using your "health" barometer, Mauritius would have unhealthy racing because for owners the stakes are poor.

Once again I'm amazed that a punting forum gives a shit about stakes... a bit like a casino punter being anxious that the casino should be making a profit, why do they care? I still think racing without opinion/odds is boring. Imagine only having saftote....ugh!