The French government’s recent tax increase is set to raise the burden on the “most heavily taxed sector” in Europe, according to the casino industry association. The move will also affect online operators’ marketing expenses.
France is preparing to raise taxes on its gaming companies as part of a plan by the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier to collect €500 million, aimed at reducing the country’s debt.
According to French newspaper Les Echos, Barnier’s government will soon publish its plans this Thursday to boost the country’s social security budget by imposing higher taxes on French land-based casinos, the retail lottery Francaise des Jeux, sports betting activities, and online poker operators. Online bookmakers and horse racing sites will bear the largest tax increases.
The tax hike is expected to generate €1.6 billion, which will go towards family healthcare and social security, up from the originally projected €1.2 billion. The government may implement the changes through primary legislation or via amendments during the upcoming parliamentary budget debates.
Currently, operators pay a social contribution based on a percentage of their gross gaming revenue (GGR). Retail sports betting is taxed at 6.6%, horse racing betting at 6.9%, lotteries at 8.4%, and slot machines and online sports betting at 10.6%. The GGR tax on online poker will rise from 0.2% to 1%, and casinos with GGR above €1,500 are taxed at 16.7%.
As the sector heavily relies on marketing and advertising to attract players, the government also plans to tax media and advertising expenses, along with financial rewards and bonuses for customers, ambassador marketing, and sponsorship budgets.
Sports betting and horse racing operators will be the hardest hit by the new measures, with the GGR tax on horse racing operators set to rise to 10% for retail bets and 15% for all sports betting. Online bookmakers such as Betclic, NetBet, and Winamax already pay around 55% tax on their GGR.
The social contribution on GGR will increase to 9.2% for lotteries and casinos and will be calculated on total GGR, unlike the current method where only 68% of slot machine revenue is taxed.
Paris-based gaming establishments, which are currently exempt from any social security contributions, will now have to pay 10% of their GGR under the new measures.
Casinos de France, the trade organization representing 200 land-based casinos in the country, stated that the sector already pays over €1.5 billion annually in taxes to the French government and local communities, accounting for nearly 57% of taxes on GGR. They added that the tax increase would jeopardize 45,000 jobs created by the sector, and that the planned 10% GGR tax on Paris-based gaming establishments would “sign their death warrant,” directly threatening 1,500 jobs.
Grégory Rabuel, CEO of Barrière Groupe and president of Casinos de France, said that “increased taxation will worsen an already difficult situation for our sector, which is the most heavily taxed in Europe.” He noted that French casinos already contribute “57% of our revenue in taxes, far exceeding the tax burden on other industries,” such as online giants like Google or Amazon.
Les Echos reported that the government acknowledged the lack of data on how the tax hike would affect demand but estimated it could lead to a 5% drop in activity.
France’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) grew by 3.8% to €5.5 billion in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year, with FDJ increasing by 5.5% to €3.5 billion, online sports betting GGR rising by 10.5% to €1.3 billion, and the number of active players growing by 13% to 4.3 million.
Last year, France’s national auditor Cour des Comptes reported that the country’s gaming sector paid around €5 billion in taxes and €1 billion in social security contributions in 2021, highlighting that “France stands out with its high tax rates,” which are 20 basis points higher than neighboring countries for lotteries and 3–10 points higher for sports betting and horse racing.
In its proposal, the government will argue that the taxes are justified by the growing number of players and the problematic behaviors associated with gambling addiction in recent years. It added that 6% of players, around 370,000, are at risk of moderate or severe addiction.
The most recent data on this issue is from 2019, when the French Gambling Observatory estimated that 1.4 million players were at risk, with nearly 400,000 classified as pathological. A new study on this topic is expected to be released by the end of the year.
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