Online Casino in France: Where Does the ANJ Reform Stand in 2026?
Short answer: as of mid-2026, online casino remains prohibited for operators in France. France is, along with Cyprus, the only European Union country that does not regulate online slots, roulette or blackjack. The government amendment meant to legalize them (PLF 2025, taxed at 55.6% of gross gaming revenue) was withdrawn on October 27, 2024, and the fall of the Barnier government suspended the consultation. Observers place a possible legalization between 2027 and 2029.
What is legal today: three verticals, not four
Since Law No. 2010-476 of May 12, 2010, France has opened three online gambling segments to competition: sports betting, horse-race betting and online poker (the "circle games"). The Autorité Nationale des Jeux, the ANJ — created by the ordinance of October 2, 2019 to replace ARJEL — issues licenses, supervises operators and blocks illegal sites through internet service providers. FDJ retains the monopoly on online lotteries, and PMU dominates horse racing.
Online casino games, however, have remained explicitly excluded from the scope: slots, roulette, blackjack, baccarat, live casino and crash games have no legal operating framework in France. The 2010 legislator cited their higher addictive risk and the protection of the land-based casino network.
Timeline of the reform: the amendment, the withdrawal, the deadlock
- October 19, 2024: the Barnier government files amendment No. I-3638 to the 2025 finance bill, authorizing online casino games with a 55.6% tax on gross gaming revenue. The stated goal: recover tax revenue from an illegal market that the ANJ values at between 748 million and 1.5 billion euros in annual GGR.
- October 2024: a CSA/AFJEL poll finds that 62% of French people favor a regulatory framework, and 28% say they have already played at an online casino.
- October 23-27, 2024: land-based casinos rise up in protest. Grégory Rabuel, president of the Casinos de France trade body and CEO of the Barrière group, puts the risk at one third of the sector's revenue (roughly 450 million euros) and 15,000 jobs. Addictions France, for its part, denounces "considerable" addiction risks.
- October 27, 2024: Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin withdraws the amendment to "allow a constructive dialogue" and launches a stakeholder consultation.
- December 2024: the no-confidence vote that topples the Barnier government suspends the consultation. The file is not taken up again by subsequent governments.
- 2025 - mid-2026: no law passed. Parliamentary questions keep the issue alive in the Senate, the ANJ continues blocking illegal sites, and industry observers place the realistic horizon for legalization between 2027 and 2029, most likely through a finance law.
The positions on the table
The ANJ, chaired by Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, holds a cautious line: it points to the Belgian example, where roughly 60% of casino traffic reportedly still goes to illegal operators despite legalization, and conditions any opening on a strict player-protection framework: limits, self-exclusion, KYC, anti-money-laundering. Casinos de France argues for a Swiss-style model, where online licenses would be reserved for existing physical casinos. Nicolas Béraud's AFJEL logically pushes for a broad opening to licensed operators. Three irreconcilable visions as things stand, which explains the stalemate.
International comparison: what our neighbors do
The most powerful argument of legalization's proponents is geographic: nearly all of Europe has already decided, and each model feeds the French debate.
| Country | Online casino | Regulatory model |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Legal since 2005 | Open UKGC licenses, mature market, strict advertising compliance |
| Belgium | Legal | Licenses tied to land-based venues; the ANJ cites its ~60% still-illegal traffic as a counterexample |
| Switzerland | Legal since 2019 | Licenses reserved for physical casinos: the model championed by Casinos de France |
| Spain / Italy / Denmark | Legal | Open licenses with moderate taxation, regulated markets studied by the ANJ |
| France / Cyprus | Prohibited | The only EU countries with no online casino framework |
The cross-market lesson: legalization does not eliminate the illegal offering, it competes with it. Its residual share depends on three parameters the future French legislator will have to weigh: the tax level (GGR taxed at 55.6% makes the legal offering barely competitive against offshore), the breadth of the authorized game catalog, and how aggressively unlicensed sites are blocked.
The French illegal market in numbers
While the legislator hesitates, the market exists: the ANJ estimates the gross gaming revenue of illegal online casino at between 748 million and 1.5 billion euros per year, or 5 to 11% of the entire French gambling market. Nearly three million French players are believed to take part, on platforms licensed by the MGA or Curaçao, or with no license at all. Every year of status quo therefore represents several hundred million euros in uncollected tax revenue — Bercy's central argument in 2024 — and just as many players outside any French responsible-gambling framework, the central argument of prevention associations. This dual reality guarantees the file will come back: the only unknown is the timing.
What this means for iGaming SEO
This regulatory snapshot entirely shapes the sector's search strategy, for operators and affiliates alike:
- The French market is worked through information and comparison: legal guides, comparisons of MGA (Malta) or Curaçao licensed operators, online poker and sports betting content (the licit ANJ verticals), with impeccable E-E-A-T: the topic is doubly YMYL, money and addiction.
- Operator volume plays out internationally: regulated markets under UKGC, MGA, Ontario, the Netherlands, Spain, LATAM. Serious casino SEO is by construction multilingual and multi-jurisdictional, which makes it a textbook case of international SEO.
- The query "casino en ligne légal en France" is a long-tail goldmine: every parliamentary episode reignites searches. Sites that maintain an up-to-date, dated and sourced timeline capture this recurring traffic, while frozen 2024 content drops off.
- Legalization would create a historic SEO window: the day a bill passes, dozens of commercial queries appear at once on a blank SERP. Operators who build their French editorial infrastructure now — silos, link building, entities — will start with an eighteen-month head start.
Our full read on the sector, vertical by vertical and license by license, is detailed on our online casino SEO agency page.
FAQ: the legality of online casino in France
Are online casinos legal in France in 2026?
Not for operators: no ANJ license exists for online casino games. A French player who signs up on a foreign-licensed site commits no criminal offense, but plays outside any protection of French law.
What are the risks on a casino not licensed by the ANJ?
No recourse in case of a dispute: confiscated winnings, frozen accounts, abusive KYC, no binding responsible-gambling tools. The ANJ can have the site blocked by ISPs, making your balance impossible to access.
When will online casino be legalized in France?
No official date exists. The scenario observers cite most is the file being taken up again through a finance law, with a 2027-2029 horizon. We will update this page and date any newly filed bill.
What is the difference between ARJEL and the ANJ?
ARJEL (2010-2020) regulated only the online games open to competition. The ANJ, created in 2020, covers all gambling: online operators, FDJ, PMU and land-based casinos, with expanded sanctioning and blocking powers.
How do I verify that an operator is licensed?
The ANJ publishes the official list of licensed operators on anj.fr, vertical by vertical. Any slots site claiming to be "licensed in France" is by definition false advertising in 2026.
Could the Swiss model apply to France?
That is the scenario championed by Casinos de France: since 2019, Switzerland has reserved online casino licenses for existing land-based venues, which often operate in technical partnership with international operators. The upside: the physical industry and its jobs are protected. The downside, as the AFJEL points out: a market closed to competition, less attractive pricing for players, and therefore an illegal offering that persists. The French trade-off will likely play out between this model and the open, Danish-style model.
Gambling involves risks: debt, isolation, addiction. Call 09 74 75 13 13 (non-premium-rate call). Sources: Assemblée nationale (amendment I-3638), franceinfo/AFP, Sénat, ANJ. Facts last verified: June 2026.
Written by Éric St-Cyr, founder of ProStar SEO and Agence SEO Paris — LinkedIn profile.