In general, the gambling industry has quite the storied history when it comes to France. Some of the oldest and most popular gambling establishments exist within the country. Not only that, but it was France that contributed a great deal towards the development of today’s popular casino games. For example, it was in France that the Queen playing card became a permanent feature of the deck, forever replacing the Nobleman in the 1500s.

Today, gambling remains as a legal activity in the country, provided an operator holds a proper licence. Regulations aren’t especially strict within France though, although gambling taxes remain relatively high in comparison to many other countries. This also equates to online gambling, which has been legal since 2010 where sports betting, poker and horse racing betting are concerned. Online casinos aren’t quite as welcomed, though.

And while it hasn’t specifically been something that France raves and shouts about, perhaps it should start doing so. In Q1 of 2020, the online gambling revenue shot up, and this was prior to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic taking hold. A serious surge was witnessed according to figures released by French gambling regulator ARJEL. Locally licensed online operators managed to generate a combined revenue of €435 million from January through to March of this year. That’s a 22% rise on the same period from last year.

Sports Betting Falls but Gains Remain

Even though France’s overall online betting industry experienced gains, the sports betting sector actually fell by 4% year-on-year to €1.22 billion. That’s the regulated market’s first decline in nine years, although that was to be expected due to the cancellation of major sporting events in March.

Yet, even with this turnover decline, favourable sports results ended up netting an 18% betting revenue rise year-on-year, which was recorded as €263 million – an amount never witnessed before. There are many online betting sites for France, and these will doubtless have contributed to that overall total in Q1 of 2020. Generally speaking, it’s important for bettors to have a range of platforms to choose from when it comes to sports wagering, as different bookies offer different things.

It wasn’t only France’s sports betting sector that experienced record-setting figures in Q1, but its poker sector, too. Revenue spiked 44% year-on-year through those initial three months. This spike did seem to peter out later on, thanks to the resumption of certain key sporting events and the possibility for sports betting to take place in larger numbers again. The re-opening of land-based gaming establishments also contributed to the decline in online poker figures, too.

This is not so surprising though, considering that sports betting (and more importantly horse racing betting) has quite the tradition in France. Parimutuel betting originated in France too, which is just another contribution to the gambling industry that has come from the country. It remains to be seen what the figures for Q2 2020 will look like from France, although it is expected that online poker and sports betting will have experienced yet another rise in activity.

The link between France and gambling always has been strong and could even be described as historic.

The country largely contributed to the development of gambling through time with the creation of inescapable games such as roulette (by the mathematician Blaise Pascal) and the 52 card game which gave birth to Baccarat or Shimmy (also known as Chernay).

As a consequence, it feels natural for gambling to be legal in France. But to settle on this territory, you must have a license from by several organisations:
• for betting activities: Pari Mutuel Hippodrome (PMH) and Pari Mutuel Urbain(PMU);
• for bingo lotteries and sports betting, only the Française des Jeux (FDJ) keeps the monopoly on land base activities.

Some conditions must however be respected if you want to offer gambling activities in France. For example, physical casinos can only be established in seaside and tourist towns (except Paris) and on some cruise ships with the French flag.

Since 2010, online gambling is regulated by the Autorité de Régulation des Jeux en Ligne (ARJEL), which can authorise licenses for club games (until now, only the poker is allowed), sports betting and horse races. Online casino games are forbidden in France.

Fifteen licenses have been issued by the ARJEL so far. This particularly low number of licenses can be explained by high tax rates which can frighten some operators.

However, the market is doing well as the third quarter of 2017 results show: an increase by 23% of the revenues linked to sports betting despite a year without international competition, a 10% growth of horse racing revenues and +5% for poker.

France is a market which needs to be followed especially as online casinos should be authorised very soon. The 2018 Football World Cup, with a French team considered as favorite for this new edition, should also contribute to the sector’s success thanks to high sports betting revenues.

On October 16, 2018, the inaugural European Gaming Congress in Ljubljana is set to host a panel where the state of France will be discussed directly with the regulator. To find out more details about the event make sure you follow our news.

The French online gambling regulator, ARJEL, has reportedly contacted its Italian counterpart inquiring about the latter’s progress on the realization of the shared online poker liquidity project.

It was in July 2017 when the gambling regulatory bodies of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal signed an official agreement that would allow them to merge their online poker player pools in a bid to improve the state of the game in the four countries.

Citing unnamed sources, Italian poker news outlet AssoPoker reported today that ARJEL is looking to materialize the shared liquidity project in early 2018, as it was agreed by the participating regulators upon signing their agreement.

It is believed that the shared online poker liquidity network will indeed be launched in the first months of 2018, with France, Spain, and Portugal merging their player pools. According to sources, Italy will be able to join the project later in 2018.

Here it is important to note that Italy is yet to open the bidding process for operators interested to renew their licenses from the local regulator and ones that are interested to enter the Italian gambling market. Country regulators were expected to launch the call for license applications in mid-September, but little information on the matter has been released since then.

France Calls for Timely Launch of the Project

As pointed out earlier, the shared liquidity project was expected to be launched late in 2017 or in the first quarter of 2018. Sources have told AssoPoker that France is keen on sticking to that timetable and that Charles Coppolani, the President of ARJEL, has been contacting the regulator’s partners in the endeavor asking where they are standing at in relation to its implementation.

According to different sources, France and Spain may become the first two countries to create a shared online poker liquidity network with Portugal joining shortly, and Italy entering the scheme when it copes with the consequences from the regulatory delays.

Another indication that the online poker network will first be launched in early 2018 and that not all countries that signed the July agreement would participate in that initial launch came from the owner of online poker brand PokerStars, The Stars Group (recently rebranded from Amaya).

During a conference call about the company’s financial results for the third quarter of the year, Financial Director Brian Kyle said that they will join the shared liquidity project and that the initial phase of the project might be released in early 2018. It is believed that PokerStars will benefit the most from the project, as it currently is the only operator to hold licenses in all four participating jurisdictions.

French online gambling operator Winamax has also been among those to express interest in joining the scheme. Currently, the company runs operations in its homeland only but has revealed plans to expand its footprint in order to be able to take part in the shared liquidity project.