by: Gene Koprowski.
Paris takes in billions a year from the gaming industry, which includes Internet
gambling, casinos, horse racing and the lottery.
The government of France will liberalize its gambling market to competition and begin to grant online betting licenses next year as it seeks to safeguard the billions of euros in tax revenue provided by the industry each year, the country's budget minister said this week.
The budget minister, Eric Woerth, said the gambling market in France will be expanded to adapt "to Internet reality" and help France "get out of an unsustainable situation in which the state is losing a growing part of the betting market."
The proposal comes in response to a 2007 European Union policy, which included the threat of a lawsuit, of an end to state gambling monopolies to comply with EU competition laws.
Paris takes in about €5 billion, or $6.3 billion, a year from the gambling industry, which includes Internet gambling, casinos, horse racing and the lottery.
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