The government’s move means online casino regulation will be in 2026 at the earliest.
France is set to undertake a six-month consultation to assess whether the country will regulate online casino in 2025, thus drawing a line under the question of timing and whether the vertical could be regulated this year.
The news follows the meeting of French gambling stakeholders that was organized by Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin this week and comes in the wake of its amendment to legalise online casino nearly three weeks ago.
Around 50 delegates from the country’s casino, horse racing and online gambling sectors, along with MPs and representatives from mayoral associations and player protection groups, were present at the event on Wednesday.
It’s good to talk
Industry contacts have noted the government’s willingness to acknowledge and discuss the topic, something that did not occur under the previous administration.
The online operator trade body AFJEL once again warned of the size of the illegal online casino market targeting the country, but its spokesperson Isabelle Djian also alluded to that idea when she told Les Echos she was pleased “a first step had been taken” and that “a form of denial” about the issue had come to an end.
Casinos de France President Grégory Rabuel and CdF VP Fabrice Paire reiterated their calls for only French casinos to be allowed to operate online via ‘digital mirrors’ that would reflect their physical offerings.
Paire again made the point that if the market was completely open it would mirror the current online sports betting markets, where three brands control 80% of the market.
“We would be on the starting line, but the contest would be rigged,” he said, and CdF “will not make the same mistake it made in 2010” when it allowed online companies that had been operating in the market to enter the regulated market with huge databases that enabled them to build unassailable market shares.
Pour et Contre
Gaming&Co understands that while CdF received strong support from the country’s mayors and local leaders, horse racing operators expressed their opposition to online casino regulation, while Française des Jeux, much to the surprise of those present in the wake of its acquisition of Kindred Group, expressed strong doubts about it, pointing to the addictive nature of the games.
On top of potential addiction issues, those two sectors might also be worried about how online casino could impact customers’ discretionary spend levels to the detriment of horse race betting or scratchcard products.
AFJEL said it would be willing to establish a compensation fund that would be distributed to the communes, but there are serious doubts as to the viability of such systems from both mayors and casinos.
BGC’s surprise attendance
The UK’s Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), accompanied by bet365 and other major operators, was also present, again much to the surprise of many of some delegates. It told the audience that online casino would not have a negative impact on the physical sector and would in fact help it grow by creating volume and awareness among players.
The gambling regulator ANJ noted that regulating the vertical would be “a major reform” and that it will be studying other countries’ online casino regulation model to assess their economic and public health impacts.
In the meantime, the government will set up three working groups, no further detail on what they will assess has been provided, to evaluate the topic as part of its six months consultation project.
The first three months will decide whether regulation should happen and the next three months will determine how regulation would be implemented.
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