As France readies increased tax contributions, could igaming be on the ballot in 2025?

France’s gambling market has steadily evolved over the years from casinos based largely in coastal areas to the opening up of online betting under the French Gambling Act of 2010.

In the first half of 2024, the country’s regulator, l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), reported that the overall turnover in the French gambling sector increased by 3.8% to reach €5.5 billion ($5.25 billion/£4.13 billion) year-on-year. Online sports betting grew its gross gaming revenue (GGR) by 16% to €871 million.

The overall online gambling market was up 11% in the same period to €1.3 billion in GGR, including online poker, which saw gross sales increase slightly by 2% to €257 million. The total player base for online poker was up by 10% year-on-year, reaching 1.2 million players.

Speaking to iGB, ANJ president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said she believes the market is “quite active”.

“It’s almost a market that has a sort of contra-cycle dimension. You know, once the general economy is declining, the markets, the gambling market, it’s still growing,” she adds.

She says La Française des Jeux, or FDJ United as it recently rebranded to, represents almost half of the market’s GGR.

Through its acquisitions of ZEturf in 2022 and Kindred in 2024, the operator expanded outside of its lottery monopoly role to compete with commercial operators in the online market.

“It gives momentum to the French market that is quite important and it generates reactions from the others,” Falque-Pierrotin notes.

She says FDJ’s “dynamism” is creating a competitive battle for consumers. However, one key component is missing in the market, as France is just one of very few EU countries that has not legalised igaming.

Continued political uncertainty raises questions on igaming’s future

Moves to bring igaming forward faltered in October last year due to political instability. The previous French government led by Michel Barnier had begun the initial drafting of what could have potentially become igaming legislation. This was hindered by strong pushback from the land-based casino sector, particularly Casinos de France.

The government instead sought to hold consultations with the sector on whether legalising igaming would benefit the market.

Barnier’s government ultimately fell to a vote of no confidence, bringing an end to all legislation it was working on. While President Emmanuel Macron named Francois Bayrou as prime minister on 13 December, that government’s longevity is unclear.

Annabelle Richard, legal partner at Pinsent Masons, tells iGB that France’s continued political uncertainty has dampened the sector’s hopes for legal igaming.

“The problem is that we don’t know how long this government is going to be able to stand and therefore what the chances are that any draft regulation would go to the end of the process, which sometimes in France can be pretty lengthy.”

Igaming hurdles

There is a view from stakeholders in France that the legalisation of igaming has never been closer and will likely happen. However, no one is confident of a time frame. Due to the political instability, it could be this summer or early 2026, sources suggest.

The ANJ’s view is that any igaming legislation should have strict regulations in place before it is passed. “The regulator is not in charge of deciding whether [igaming] has to be open or not. But what we said is, if [the opportunity] is to be reopened, it should be reopened under very strict conditions, conditions relating to the marketing of such offers, conditions related to the [operators],” Falque-Pierrotin says.

Pinsent Masons’ Richard notes that land-based casino operators have successfully lobbied in the past few years against the opening of the online casino market. They have pointed to risks to local businesses and employment, warning that online legalisation could result in a third of French casinos closing.

“They also indicated that this reform [could] threaten 15,000 jobs in the first year and a 25% drop in the activity of the remaining casinos,” Richard says

“However, it seems that their position becomes harder to defend and we have seen in recent months multiple draft regulation on the legalisation of online casinos. The very significant size of the black market and the need for additional tax revenues could lead the French government to allow igaming in the coming months.”

Pressures of France’s illegal market

Like many of its European peers, France is navigating a thriving illegal online gambling market.

A reported published by PwC in November 2023 identified 510 websites that were offering illegal gambling to French consumers. Of the sites found by the study, 65% offered online casino games.

“French consumers of illegal online gambling mainly access this offer through direct internet searches, thus demonstrating a good knowledge of the key illegal gambling sites existing on the French market,” the PwC study stated.

At the time, the PwC report commissioned by the ANJ estimated that the illegal market had a GGR of between €748m and €1.5bn.

However, its size has sparked debates between operators and the regulator, with the former calling for more action.

ANJ has increased enforcement against black market

The ANJ says that in the last few years its ability to tackle the illegal market has grown, thanks to the introduction of new tools. These include the ability to quickly block IP addresses.

“Within two years, we have been rather successful, I would say, because we’ve blocked almost as many websites’ addresses as we did when we had to ask the judge [to block illegal sites]. Before it was a judiciary proceeding and it was effective but very long – now it’s much quicker,” Falque-Pierrotin says.

The regulator notes that illegal operators can mirror their websites and pop up with a slightly different address. However, Falque-Pierrotin believes that its increased actions are signalling to the illegal operators that it is ready to fight them.

“We also developed quite an effective relationship with the technical intermediaries, the search engines, the social networks. We have specific hotlines to report to them illegal content,” she adds.

While the regulator estimates that the illegal market accounts to roughly 10% of the French market, operators have pushed back, arguing that it is much more and that more robust action needs to be taken.

Last year, French gaming trade body l’Association Française des Jeux En Ligne warned the illegal gambling problem had reached a tipping point, with illegal players totalling four million in 2023, ahead of the regulated sector’s 3.6 million.

Illegal igaming market cannibalising land-based casinos

The industry believes the market could be doing more in terms of enforcement. Laurent Lassiaz, JOA casinos CEO and VP for land-based trade body Casinos de France, tells iGB: “I would love to have a government which is much more pushy when it comes to fighting illegal gaming, when that’s the number one issue in any country in Europe right now.”

The JOA chief claims the operator is already seeing igaming cannibalisation from the illegal market, considering the illegal market is quite sizeable.

“There is already a very, very big illegal market and, as those websites are quite easy to reach, I do strongly believe that we’ve already been facing a cannibalisation impact,” Lassiaz says. “Because we know that our customers are already playing on some illegal websites and, for a large majority of them, they don’t even know that it’s illegal.”

Illegal sites

Richard notes that when she is asked by clients to investigate illegal websites on their behalf, she has found these sites can request more data than official sites and their KYC requirements are much less robust than a licensed operator’s would be.

“Of course, it’s fairly easy to deposit money, but when you want to withdraw money it’s just impossible. I mean, you have all kind of official identity verification tools, you know,” says Richard.

“But weirdly enough, these tools never work and in the meantime you scan your ID card, you make videos of yourself, and you send all this to websites which are located you don’t know where and operated by you don’t know who,” Richard says.  

“It raises a number of issues for people with a problem of addiction even if they win. Even if they want to stop, they will never be able to withdraw their balance, which is one more reason to keep coming back to the website.”

Sorare Law

It should be noted that France has made one move towards online gambling in the last few years, or rather a diversification of the previous betting-only model. In 2023, it passed the ‘Digital Space Regulation Law’, often called the Sorare Law or JONUM framework.

This law was brought into place to accommodate the popular fantasy sport cryptocurrency-based trading cards operator Sorare. Its games allow players to win NFT-based items, which potentially could be traded for cash.

Sorare works by issuing virtual player cards as NFTs, which can be bought on the Ethereum platform and used to create a fantasy team.

The card’s value can increase or drop depending on players’ performances in a real football match. These cards can be traded on Sorare’s digital marketplace/exchange.

Since a player’s real-life performance has an impact on the value of the cards won, Sorare’s operation caught the attention of the ANJ.

Getting creative with “free-to-play” casinos

As such, ANJ required Sorare to provide consumers with enhanced access to its existing free-play model and give them equal winning opportunities, regardless of whether they pay to play or not. Sorare’s amended model allows French players to enter its tournaments without having to purchase NFTs/blockchain cards.

The operator is hugely successful worldwide and its free-to-play service has for some time enabled it to circumvent gambling regulations in the UK. However, last year the UK’s Gambling Commission initiated legal proceedings against the company for providing unlicensed gambling operations in the UK.

Richard notes that this law in France has raised questions around the future of online gambling and models that can get around the prohibition of online casino games.

“A number of operators are considering deploying slots-like mechanisms [into online games], with the proper skins to make them fit into the regulation,” Richard tells iGB.

“You cannot win cash, but [rather] tokens which would then be redeemable. One of the main constraints was that the operator who allowed you to win the digital objects could not be the same one who allowed you to redeem your token against cash. But as you can imagine, there are already big platforms where you can exchange these digital tokens and redeem them for cash.”

Increased tax contributions putting operators under pressure

Alongside the potential for legal igaming in the market, French operators are preparing to pay higher tax bills across all other online verticals this year. These public levies were included in the Social Security Financing Act for 2025 and relate to increased social security contributions, applicable as of 1 July 2025.

France’s gambling tax rates are based on GGR and differ between verticals. Operators then pay a separate social security contribution, which is due to increase across all verticals.

As part of the social security payments, online sports betting contributions are being increased from 10.6% to 15%, while on-premises sports betting contributions are moving from 6.6% to 7.6%.

Richard notes says that there is also a new annual contribution on advertising investments which is due in respect of financial years ending on or after 1 July 2025. This will amount to a 15% contribution on gambling advertising expenditures, including publication costs and the purchase of advertising space.

“The new article L137-27 of the Social Security Code has been modified during the parliamentary process. The tax percentage is set up at 15% and the financial bonuses granted to players are not considered as advertising expenditures and are therefore outside the tax base,” Richard says.

FDJ and Banijay bemoan tax increases

Speaking to investors during its full year earnings call on 6 March, FDJ CFO Pascal Chaffard said the impact of the new taxation resulted in it paying €45 million in tax revenue in 2024.

This increase in contributions will impact its overall group revenue in 2025, which is targeted at €3.8 billion with a recurring EBITDA margin of over 24%. FDJ also noted that increasing tax rates in France could lead to a €100 million tax payout in 2027.

Betclic Everest Group owner Banijay Group CEO François Riahi told analysts in its full-year results the tax increase in France is “anti-competitive”. It plans to contest them with the authorities. In its results published on 6 March, the group estimated it would face a €20m impact from the taxes in its 2025 results.

“In the French market we do pay a high level of tax,” Lassiaz tells iGB.

“One part is going to the [national] government, but also a significant part is going to local level, the municipality level and the regional level and, all of a sudden, you know, people at the top level of the government realised that thanks to the casino industry, they were able to finance lots of things locally.”

These tax increases could ultimately push players into the black market if operators drive up prices to absorb the increase. For now, it remains unclear whether the new French government has an appetite to revisit igaming legislation in the country.

However, given budget concerns, the potential new tax base the sector could represent may see stakeholders fight for it to be put back on the table this year.