Online operators drive French gambling growth in 2024, but casinos have expressed a deep unhappiness and call for “regulatory rebalancing and relief” ahead of new tax burdens in July.

France’s gambling operators recorded a 4.7% rise in GGR to €14bn ($15.12bn) in 2024 with online operators acting as key growth drivers for the sector and recording a 12% rise in GGR to €2.6bn ($2.81bn), annual figures from Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) regulator revealedp.

Online bookmakers such as Betlcic, Unibet and Winamax recorded €1.8bn ($1.94bn) of that €2.6bn ($2.81bn) GGR total, up 19% on 2023, thanks to Euro 2024 and the Paris Olympics. They represented 12% of France’s gambling market in 2024 and at 43% were the second largest contributors to its market growth.

Casinos désolé

The past 12 months saw France’s land-based casinos record a 1.2% rise in GGR to €2.7bn ($2.92bn) and ANJ President Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin noted at Casinos de France’s AGM that the sector was in “relatively good shape”. CdF however issued a statement saying the figures masked a different reality and “a major structural issue: growth in physical casinos is extremely weak, even negative, relative to inflation, unlike online gaming”.

Grégory Rabuel, Chairman of CdF and CEO of Groupe Barrière, said only large and medium-scale casinos enjoyed growth in 2024 and the trend continued to endanger France’s model of local community financing. Without “regulatory rebalancing and tax relief”, the sector risked long-term stagnation, “even though it is one of the most regulated, contributory and territorially-based pillars of the French gambling landscape”.

Rabuel added: “Unlike other gambling operators, the physical casino sector will see virtually no growth in 2024. Faced with ever-increasing competition and a regulatory and tax environment that still differentiates between gaming operators, we need to support our sector in its transformation. The public authorities must give us the means for growth in order to innovate.”

Online casino exclusivity 

Speaking to the press at the end of CdF’s AGM, Rabuel noted that since PM François Bayrou’s  government had postponed the working committees on online casino regulation, the timing was appropriate for “calm discussions” following “the psychodrama” of the online casino amendment that was put forward by France’s previous government in October last year.

Rabuel also insisted that the country’s casino groups were best placed to operate any form of regulated online casino in France and since they plan to digitise their offerings, “we think it’s only natural that in order to respect the balance between local authorities and land-based casinos, (the) jobs and culture (they provide to French territories), it should be up to physical casinos to digitise” their offerings via the JADE project they have put forward to the authorities.

He said no timetable had been agreed with the country’s legislators, but that if a regulatory project was put forward, CdF would “clarify JADE for the authorities, because people must be able to understand how it would work from a technical perspective”, while ensuring it is legal and compliant in relation to French and European law.

FDJ – The dominant player

ANJ’s figures also confirmed FDJ United’s size and scope of activity across lottery, online and retail sports betting and digital games. Those product verticals enabled it to record a 6% rise in GGR to €7bn ($7.56bn). It means the group now represents 50% of the country’s overall gambling market, thanks largely to its lottery GGR of €5.8bn ($6.26bn) (+5% vs. 2023).

Pari Mutuel Urbain’s horse racing GGR was down 2% to €1.7bn ($1.84bn)  but its net result was stable at €837m ($904m) , “which enables it to maintain its funding to the horseracing industry”, while player numbers were up 6% and back to pre-COVID levels of 3.5 million, noted ANJ. 

ANJ noted that with marketing budgets set to rise 11% despite there not being many major sporting events in 2025 as major brands compete for players, it will maintain its focus on player protection and minimising the risk of excessive gaming in the next 12 months. It added that the 15% tax on advertising and media spend will likely impact the industry during the second half the year.

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