ANJ calls for ‘highly controlled approach’ to regulating iGaming in France
French gambling regulator l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) said in its 2024 annual report on Thursday that it had participated in a consultation with the current and previous French governments to discuss legalising iGaming in France.
Only online sports betting, poker and lotteries are legal in France; casino games are only legally available at land-based locations.
But the ANJ warned any such regulation “must be carefully considered, given the highly addictive nature of this online offering”.
““Such an opening and the fact that the potential market for this opening would be comparable to that of 2010 [when online betting was first regulated]. Given the significant public health risks and economic impacts, a highly controlled regulatory approach should therefore be adopted,” it said in the report.
The regulator said it had examined foreign examples of online casino openings and their economic and public health impacts, with a view to furthering its work modelling the impact on the French market.
It said it was happy to continue talks with the government on the online casino opportunity going forward.
The French government launched a consultation process to determine the future of online casino in the country last year. The previous French government, under the leadership of Michel Barnier, began the initial drafting of potential legislation. However this was met with opposition from the land-based casino sector.
Sources speaking iGB in March have suggested renewed iGaming legislation could come this summer or in early 2026.
ANJ push for operators to focus on ‘less intensive’ gambling
The risks of increases in gambling addiction was flagged across online betting and other legal online gambling activities, and the ANJ said it was supporting a restructuring of operators’ models to focus on less intensive gambling and avoid high-risk players.
This strategic plan will run through to 2026. It aims to drastically reduce the number of problem gamblers in the country.
As part of plans to tackle gambling addiction, the ANJ will organise a conference at the end of June. It expects this to help establish best practices and paths to follow.
Up to 1,335 black market URLs were blocked by the ANJ last year. This is in addition to nine sanctions being enforced, the highest being up to €150,000.
This was followed up with an €800,000 fine for SPS Betting in January 2025, after the operator failed to comply with its obligations to provide a self-exclusion programme for players at its Unibet brand.
The ANJ said: “Studies show that one excessive gambler seriously affects six people around them (financial difficulties, academic difficulties, romantic breakups, etc.). We must therefore act collectively to put an end to this trivialisation, which leads to a situation of major risks for young people.
Market uncertainties going forward
The ANJ warned 2025 could be a “risky year”, as promotional budgets are increasing by almost 11%.
The FDJ also referenced the challenges that will come with new tax laws which come into effect in July. Online betting tax is set to rise from 54.9% to 59.3% of GGR. Social security levies will be raised across all verticals.
The tax rate on lottery and Euromillions games will rise by 1% to 69% of GGR and instant draw games will be taxed at 7.2% of GGR.
French gaming group FDJ said in February it expects increased tax requirements to lead to a €45 million impact on its 2025 EBITDA.
Record year for online betting in France
The ANJ in its 2024 report highlighted increased GGR in France gambling during 2024. The Euros tournament and Paris Summer Olympics led to a record €2.6 billion GGR, up 12% from 2023.
The record was largely made up by online sports betting, which produced GGR of €1.8 billion. This represented an annual increase of 19%.
Gambling participation is increasing in France, with active player accounts up 11% in 2024 to 5.7 million. This was an improvement from the 3.9% fall year-on-year in 2023. The upward trend has been noted across a number of verticals, with sports betting player accounts up 13%, poker up 11% and horse racing up 4%.
National interest in sports
The increase could partially be explained by the performance of French sports teams. The national football team reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2024. And the Olympic team ranked fifth at the country’s home Summer Olympics in Paris, securing 16 gold medals.
A total of €438 million was staked on Euro 2024, producing a GGR of €87 million. This represented slight growth from the 2021 tournament where France went out with a shock defeat in the Last 16.
Bets on the Olympic Games totalled €342 million, leading to €44 million in GGR. This was up by a significant 182% from the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Casinos recorded a slight increase in gross sales of 1.2%, to €2.7 billion in 2024. While state-backed French pool betting operator PMU posted €1.7 billion in GGR, down 2%.