On Tuesday, France opened up its online gambling market to foreign companies. Previously they banned online casinos from overseas and only allowed domestic casinos to get business from French customers. This, however, was in violation of European Union rules, which set up free trade agreements between EU member nations. After defying the rules, this week France gave in.

Operating an online casino in the French market isn’t easy, though. Their new online gambling laws are very strict and have rules for licensing that many call excessive and some even call “Draconian.” So far, approximately 35 online casino operators have applied for the licensed in France, with the French issuing 17 licenses to the 11 operators. The other 24 online casinos are still waiting for word from the French.

The new French online gambling legislation established a regulatory authority called the ARJEL, which is an acronym that makes sense in France. ARJEL can only give out 30 licenses and a separate license needs to be given for each type of gambling operation, which is why some online casino have more than one. With 17 of the 30 licenses already given out, there are only 13 still up for grabs.

There are a few big-name online gambling companies still waiting for licenses, such as Microgaming, PartyGaming and PokerStars. Other online gambling companies have pulled out of the French market entirely, meaning they will no longer accept bets from French customers. Some big names in that group include Betfair, Spin Palace and Ladbrokes. Those companies say that the rules and restrictions by the French government make it an unsuitable market for turning a profit.

Once the French decided to open the online gambling market, they hurried to get licenses handed out in time for the World Cup, which is the most popular sporting event in the world. Billions of dollars will be bet on the Cup over the next month, so the French want in on the money.

The European Union (EU) is kind of funny. They love to regulate and control the lives of the citizens of its member states and they love to control all business, but if someone actually stands up to them and says no, they don’t know what to do. That is because, despite all of their power and greed, the EU is still basically spineless.

Whenever a member country defies EU rules, they respond in much the same way as the United Nations: they tell you that they don’t like it. Do it again and you might get a friendly letter reminding you of the EU laws. Keep doing it and the letters may get less pleasant. Keep doing it after that and who knows what will happen? They might condemn you.

As part of the EU’s Free Trade Agreement creates a single set of rules and regulations for commerce between its member nations. Each member nation must accept and abide by the EU rules and the result is supposed to be a simplified and more inclusive market. The problem is that nations aren’t following the rules. Estonia is the latest to defy the EU’s regulations on online gambling.

Under EU rules, countries must accept all European-based online casinos and related sites, giving no preference based on origin. Estonia has recently begun licensing online gambling operators, but only those that are not included on their blacklist. Several things can land a casino on the blacklist, with one of them being having your operations based outside of Estonia. The country is giving preference to casinos based inside their borders and excluding foreign competition, a practice that is strictly prohibited under EU rules.

So far there has been no response from the European Union, but these things take time. After all, for some time now Germany, France and Greece have been ignoring the EU regulations and giving preference to their own casinos. Spain is giving tax breaks to customers who win money at Spanish casinos but none if you win at a foreign site.

Meanwhile, there has been little response from the EU. They now have a new Internal Markets Commissioner, who has drafted a paper and sent it to each member nation reminding them of the free trade rules. Now that a new country has joined in the defiance, you wonder what is next.

Who would have guessed that getting a bunch of independent countries to agree on having the exact same laws would be difficult? Oh, I guess anyone with intelligence would. For whatever reason, that either didn’t occur to those who pushed for the establishment of a European Union back in 1993 or they just didn’t care.

In any case, if you’ve been following online gambling news you probably have noticed that there have been a lot of disputes between the European Union (EU) and its member countries about gambling. One of the things the EU is supposed to provide for its member countries is free trade. However, several countries either have a ban on foreign online casinos or give incentives for their citizens to use the casinos in their own country instead. The EU doesn’t like that.

You don’t want to make the EU mad, because when they get mad, they react about as harshly as the United Nations: They tell you that you’re being bad and ask you to stop. If you continue being bad, they’ll say that they’re getting really mad and really want you to stop. If you keep doing it, you can expect an angry letter.

The EU now has a new Internal Markets Commissioner, Michel Barnier, who resolves to end this problem once and for all. How? By drafting a paper that clearly outlines the EU’s position on online gambling, of course. He will then send the paper to each member country to remind them that these are the rules that they must follow. Not only that, but it will call out the countries that are violating the EU laws by pointing out what they’re doing wrong. Ooh, that’s gotta hurt.

So who’s ignoring the EU? A few countries right now. France, Germany and Greece have laws that give an advantage to state-run monopolies over foreign online casinos. Spain is a little more covert with their subversion. Though there is no law that gives an advantage to Spanish casinos, their tax code does. The Spanish government offers a tax break on winnings from gambling at Spanish-run casinos. If you win money from a foreign casino, however, you have to shoulder the full tax burden. For that reason, there is significant incentive for Spanish citizens to gamble using the state-run monopolies. Finland is a little more daring. They placed an outright ban on foreign online casinos, making it only legal to gamble using one of the two Finnish gambling companies.

You may be wondering where the new Internal Markets Commissioner is from. Well, Mr. Barnier happens to be from France, which is one of the countries defying the EU rules on online gambling. Maybe this will get interesting after all. France may get a very special letter from Barnier, which would basically say “I’m really disappointed in you. Oh, yeah, and you’re making me look bad.”