France’s broadcasting watchdog has opened its consultation over whether to subject French online gambling advertising to a watershed rule similar to the one in place in the UK.

The French gaming giants say they intend to launch the BarrierePoker.fr joint venture in September, but in the meantime online poker licensing is expected to be pushed back until after this month’s World Cup.

With the online gaming market in France having now been opened for over a month, the regulatory agency ARJEL has recently started taking action against operators it sees as offering their services illegally in the country.

French companies dominate among the first wave of 11 online gaming licensees in France, which were announced by the country’s new regulatory authority late last night.

Analysts agree that Bwin emerged as the main early beneficiary from France’s online gambling licensing process as the country’s new gambling regulator now prepares to shift its attention to enforcement around this month’s World Cup.

French regulators have awarded online licences to the joint venture between the UK’s Ladbrokes and broadcasting giant Canal+, and to casino operator Lucien Barrière alongside its chosen poker partner, state-owned Française des Jeux.

Confirming promotional deals with partners including Orange and members of France’s 1998 World Cup winning team, Française des Jeux (FDJ) said it expects to deliver €1bn in sports-betting turnover this year as the French online market opens up.

A director of France’s new gaming authority says it expects to receive licence applications from around 30 online operators ahead of the start of the football World Cup in June.

As French punters shift their attention to Wimbledon following France’s World Cup exit, the country’s gambling regulator has underlined its more prescriptive approach to sports betting activities by confirming that all bets placed on abandoned tennis matches must be declared null and void.

One of the chief proponents of France’s online gambling reform has voiced his fears that a licensing regime will not be in place in time for next year’s World Cup Finals in South Africa, meanwhile observers suggest that a combined remote gaming market with Italy could be the ultimate goal for French officials.