France Set to Legalize Online Casino Gambling by 2025, Land-Based Operators Sound Alarm

France could see the introduction of a regulated online casino market as early as 2025, following the government’s decision to include a legislative amendment in its Draft Finance Bill. The move marks a significant shift in the country's stance on online gambling, which had previously been illegal.

The amendment, added to the Finance Bill 2025, would create a licensed online casino market, aligning France’s regulations with those of other European nations. The government, in its summary of the amendment, stated: “This opening is the result of aligning the gaming framework with our main European neighbours, France being, along with Cyprus, the only country in the European Union to ban online casino gaming.”

Prime Minister Michel Barnier has championed the initiative, aiming to reduce France’s budget deficit from its current level of 6.1% to below 5% of GDP. Legalizing online casinos is part of this broader fiscal strategy. A similar initiative last year, which proposed a competitive online casino market launching in 2030 after a five-year period of exclusivity for French companies, failed to gain traction.

If the proposal is passed, France will impose one of Europe’s highest tax rates on iGaming operators, with a floated rate of 55.6%—the same rate currently applied to online lottery games. This would include a 27.8% tax on gross gaming revenue (GGR) alongside additional social security contributions.

The government has highlighted the growing black market for online casino games as a significant reason for repealing the ban. A study by the National Gambling Authority (ANJ) estimates that illegal gambling operators generated between €748 million and €1.5 billion in GGR in 2023, representing 5% to 11% of the total gambling market in France. Online casinos were identified as the driving force behind this black market, accounting for 50% of illegal gambling activities. Furthermore, 79% of the money spent in this market comes from at-risk players.

The black market is a central focus of the ANJ’s 2024-2026 strategic plan, with efforts already underway to combat it. The gambling regulator recently launched an information campaign to warn consumers about the dangers of unlicensed operators, reminding the public that online casino gambling remains illegal.

The government explained that “while one in two consumers of illegal offers are unaware of their illicit nature, playing these games is not without risk: there is no approval of the games used, making cheating possible, winnings may not be paid, minors are not protected, bets are not supervised and the theft of personal data is frequent.”

Despite the ANJ’s blocking powers, introduced in March 2022, efforts to curb illegal online gambling remain challenging. Since then, the regulator has issued 506 administrative blocking actions, resulting in 2,365 URLs being blocked. This figure surpasses the number of blocks achieved through judicial proceedings in the previous 12 years. However, the government noted that these efforts had only seen relative success, as many unlicensed operators quickly set up mirror sites to bypass the blocks.

“In order to limit the impact on the public health of consumers of online games, to control this ever-growing supply of games and to try to dry up the illegal supply, it is necessary to ensure real regulation of online casino games,” the government said. They also indicated that any future authorisation would come with specific regulations developed in conjunction with the ANJ and other stakeholders.

The announcement has been met with optimism from French online gaming operators, who have long advocated for an open market. La Française des Jeux, one of Europe’s largest gambling operators following its recent acquisition of Kindred, is poised to benefit from the change, potentially leveraging its increased market power to gain a dominant position in the new online sector.

However, the proposal has drawn strong opposition from France’s land-based casino sector. Gregory Rabuel, head of the Casinos de France union, warned that legalising online casinos would have "catastrophic" consequences for physical establishments.

Speaking to French financial newspaper *Les Echos*, Rabuel said: “This is a completely ill-considered choice, without any consultation with stakeholders. According to our calculations, opening up online casinos to competition will lead to a 20-30% drop in gross gaming revenue for land-based casinos, and the closure of 30% of establishments. There will be catastrophic consequences, particularly social: it is estimated that 15,000 jobs will be lost. More generally, this amounts to signing the death warrant for land-based casinos.”

The debate over the future of online casino gambling in France is heating up, with both sides presenting starkly different outcomes for the country’s economy and gaming industry. As the bill makes its way through the legislative process, the government will have to navigate opposition from the powerful land-based casino lobby while pushing forward its plan to rein in the online black market and boost state revenues.

By fLEXI tEAM