SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
As the French government begins consultations with gambling stakeholders, market access, combating the illegal market and remit of regulations will be among the key issues debated in 2025.
The working groups that will study potential frameworks that could lead to online casino being regulated in France from January will take into account the key issues of public health, consumer protection and the economic impact the online vertical might have on France’s physical casinos. But much will also depend on whether the different stakeholders are happy with the eventual outcomes, or at least feel like they obtained most of what they were asking for as heavy bargaining is anticipated.
All of them want the regulatory impasse to be resolved, but favoured settings differ greatly according to each party. The country’s land-based casinos and their trade body Casinos de France want to be given priority and exclusivity for three to five years, online operators and their trade group AFJEL would like an open and competitive market, while the authorities expect to raise around €1bn tax revenues from the activity.
All parties also want to put a stop or significantly curtail an illegal iCasino market said to be worth €1.5bn-€2bn, but likely to be worth even more.
What’s the scenario
In this context, three broad scenarios loom on the horizon. If the CdF or AFJEL outline is unacceptable to either party, one ‘hybrid model’ could see online groups agree to operate the digital offerings of land-based casinos. Although caveats and doubts abound around it.
On top of the exclusivity clause favoured by land-based casinos, CdF might also ask for restrictions on major French online groups such as Betclic or international groups from acquiring physical casinos to obtain a licence.
Who will win out, or end up most satisfied at the outcome, remains to be seen, but the key parties will be CdF and AFJEL, with the latter now able to count on lottery giant Française des Jeux’s lobbying power following its acquisition of Kindred Group.
FDJ’s critical comments about regulating the vertical during last week’s stakeholder roundtable have also failed to convince industry sources.
Open to debate
CdF has the support of many MPs and hundreds of mayors and contributes close to €1.5bn a year in taxes to state coffers, while FDJ contributed €4.5bn out of the €6bn that gambling companies paid in taxes in 2021.
The government is adopting a very different and much more open attitude to the issue than its predecessor. One can imagine that CdF also feels that it is being seen and listened to by the authorities, a major change from 2023, when the government ignored its repeated entreaties and passed specific legislation in favour of NFT fantasy betting group Sorare.
The issue of cannibalisation of physical casino revenues by online portals is also bound to reappear and will be hotly debated.
