Online casino ban likely to remain in France – for a while

Proposals to allow online casinos to operate in France have been put on hold by the government in the face of opposition from the 200 casinos with physical premises in the country, as well as organisations fighting gambling addiction.

France and Cyprus are the only European Union countries to ban online casinos, but the Autorité Nationale des Jeux, charged with some of the regulation of gambling, estimates that three million French people played online in 2023 using sites situated outside the country.

Authorising online casinos in France would bring in an estimated €1billion a year in specific taxes, the government said, and would also allow better control, including tracking people who appear addicted to online games.

However, the trade body Casinos de France estimated that the move will reduce the amount gambled in its casinos by between 20% and 30%, forcing around a third to close with the loss of 15,000 jobs – and the loss of taxes that goes with it.

It has long pushed for measures allowing only the owners of physical casinos in France to operate online.

The ANJ estimates that in 2023, €13.4billion made in pre-tax profit by companies running gambling in legal ways in France, with €2.7billion being in casinos.

Read more: French senate votes for increase in taxes on tobacco, gambling and soda

How is gambling regulated in France?

Other gambling regulated in the state is through the PMU (Pari Mutuel Urbain) – a French betting organisation primarily for horse racing – and the official Loto, although this was privatised in a very successful stock market listing.

Initially planned for a fast-track authorisation by decree, the law change on online gambling was withdrawn in late autumn for “further consultation”.

Casinos in France were for many years only allowed in tourist towns. In their modern form they started in seasonal mobile gaming rooms which were allowed in spa towns during the summer while wealthy people “took the waters”.

A ban on casinos for 100km around Paris was imposed in 1919, in order to protect the capital’s workers from vice, although within 10 years it was relaxed for spa resorts close to the capital.

The spa of Enghien-les-Bains (Val-d'Oise) was the main beneficiary.

Gambling in Paris could only take place in private cercles de jeux until 2017 when clubs de jeux opened.

Membership of these clubs can sometimes be obtained instantly, but the clubs still face restrictions on slot machines.

A law change in 1988 allowed new casinos to be opened in large towns without tourism as a main activity, and it led to the growth in numbers to the 200 casinos active today.

While some try to replicate the glamour of a James Bond film, others, such as the large one in Bordeaux, are in “big box”-style sheds, with only neon lights on the outside distinguishing them from surrounding warehouses.

Read more: France looks to authorise online casinos

Rules around online gambling in France

Legal online gambling is allowed through the government’s Loto, which provided the possibility for people to register online and play all the games around 15 years ago, ending a monopoly associated with bureaux de tabac.

But the French Loto only allows people to play online from computers or smart phones in France or Monaco.

In 2023, €21billion was placed in bets on the Loto, but €14.5billion was returned to players in the form of winnings.

Of the €6.5billion ‘profit’, €4.2billion was taken by tax and social security contributions.

When it comes to horse racing, only the PMU can run off-course betting operations in France.

For a long time PMU machines and cash desks were found mainly in louche bars, open all day, and frequented by seedy men who hardly ever seemed to go outside.

Since 2010, the PMU, which is still managed by the nation’s horse racing courses, was allowed to operate online. It now also offers bets on other sports, as well as online poker.

The organisation has its own tax regime for historic reasons, and now pays 20.2% in taxes with another 6.9% going to social security.

In 2023, it made a net profit after tax of around €800million, which was returned to the horse racing and trotting organisations which own it.

Government plans for a sharp rise in betting taxes provoked a strike at race courses in November – the first time there has not been racing since it was suspended during the two World Wars.