Finally! The French state has at long last looked into the topic that is so important to us: electronic sports! The French government has even promised to “officially” recognize “esport”. Axelle Lemaire, secretary of state for digital affairs, announced the news during a presentation of her digital laws project on November 6th.
During her conference, the secretary of state explained that public consultation has allowed them to add 11 articles in the project of law. Amongst those added, article 38 is all about video-game competitions!
The article mentions an amendment requested by the SELL syndicate in France: video-game competitions will not be comparable to gambling games which are money-based. Remember the movement started a few weeks back: this will be a huge sigh of relief for professionals of the sector who were worried that their activities would be controlled as such. However, outside of the spoken promise of the state secretary and contrary to what some websites have announced, electronic sport in France does not have an official status yet.
The note written on the project of law is clear on the topic: “it is necessary to shed light in the code for interior security that could identify this as money-based games. Legal work is currently under way in order to achieve a strong enough legal redaction of the text.”
The ministry’s cabinet in France seems to have fully understood the importance of electronic sport today, both in terms of competition intensity and the financial dimension. Aurélien Perol, Axelle Lemaire’s communication counselor specifies: “today we have acted out a political wish. We want to recognize video game competition as a sport discipline. We have received the backing of the prime minister to include this text into a project of law.”
We do not have any precise information yet about the calendar for this, but a first piece of redaction work of the text of law as well as a parliamentary mission will be launched in the next few days. Who could be the first actors to be heard? We know that a work-force composed of the SELL and other professionals of the industry have already been consulted by the secretary of state. Let’s hope that everyone can be heard, that associations as well as players will be able to express their opinion.
Obviously we will have more information in the next few days. Don’t worry, SmartCast is on the case!
