The communist group in the Senate on Tuesday presented a bill to better regulate online sports betting, by more strictly regulating advertisements, by prohibiting promotional offers or by toughening the sanctions against operators.
"
Sports betting is an addiction in the same way as alcoholism, smoking or drugs
," said Senator Fabien Gay (Seine-St-Denis) during a press conference presenting the bill (PPL) tabled by his group.
According to him, before the Qatar World Cup, there were four million online bettors in France.
"
It is estimated that 15 out of 100 are excessive bettors who put their own mental and mental health at risk
," he explained, ensuring that he saw in his department "
the ravages that advertising has on young people, especially on those of popular neighborhoods
.
Advertising, the main target
"
It is estimated that 40% of the turnover of all these online operators is due in large part to excessive bettors
", added the elected official, who expects the government to seize "
as soon as possible
" this question, specifying that he wishes to meet in January the Minister of Health François Braun and that of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.
Read alsoThe dangerous game of young people who live from sports betting
The bill mainly targets advertising, which is "
a real problem
" in the eyes of Fabien Gay.
"
Everything is done so that the bettor plays throughout the match
," he stressed, acknowledging that his objective is not to ban betting.
"
We want an Evin law that tries to regulate things
," he said, referring to Minister Claude Evin's law which came into force 30 years ago to reduce the consumption of tobacco and alcohol.
The communist group's bill also wants to ban promotional offers that offer money to engage in betting.
“
They attract a lot of customers and they make people believe that they can become extremely rich
,” laments the senator.
Fabien Gay also wants to "
toughen the penalties against operators who do not respect the provisions of the law
" and "
take legal action against companies who do not respect our proposed law
".
