It looks like France will finally begin opening its borders to foreign online sports betting and gambling come next year (2010).

French budget minister Eric Woerth told the International Herald Tribune that it was time his country got with the times.

"The minister, Eric Woerth, said the gambling market in France would 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,'" said the Herald Tribune.

Like many other countries in the European Union, France had a gambling monopoly which went against EU laws and it looks like the French government is finally heeding the Union's request to open up the gambling market.

Earlier this week, Woerth made a presentation detailing France's plans for online gambling regulation.

"The French authorities will tax the stakes placed by punters at 7.5 percent on sports and horse racing bets plus a 1 percent tax that will be redistributed to the National Centre for Sports Development. The proposed tax rate for online poker is 2 percent," reported the eGaming Review.

France's gambling market encompasses casinos, horse racing, lottery and online gambling and fills the country's coffers with around $6.3 billion (€5 billion) annually.

Woerth also told the International Tribune that revenue from illegal online gambling—with 25,000 websites—was thought to generate €7 billion and comprised 75 percent of the market.

The budget minister said the government would rather regulate and provide licenses rather than shutdown the 25,000 sites.

"We'd rather give licenses to those who will respect public and social order," Woerth told the Tribune.