Jake Pollard takes a look back on a hectic year for French iGaming – a year that has seen talk of taxation and crypto, online streaming and controversy, though none of this has deterred one of the industry’s most notable names from setting up shop in France.

Taxes and online casino regulation are recurring iGaming themes in France and dominated the headlines in 2025, but we will start this roundup a few months before in October 2024, when the country’s then-Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government introduced a surprise amendment to regulate online casino.

False dawn on icasino

The news was surprising as it was not expected and, naturally enough, was welcomed by the online industry. The positivity was short-lived however and, following a fast and broad lobbying effort by the trade group Casinos de France, the government agreed to establish committees that would examine the impact online casino regulation would have on public health, player safety and the country’s 202 land-based casinos. 

The evaluations were supposed to go on for six months, but barely six weeks later Michel Barnier was forced to step down following a no confidence vote and, as he left office, so did any hope of seeing online casino regulated in France.

François Bayrou succeeded Barnier as PM (at first this reporter kept confusing Bayrou with François Baroin, who was involved in the country’s iGaming regulation of 2010, which made for very confusing flashbacks for a few days…) and, as expected since Bayrou had made no secret of his lack of interest in the topic, the iCasino evaluation committees were shelved. Still, for all the kicking in the long grass, as long as the vertical is not regulated the topic will keep coming back to the surface.

It did so in high profile fashion in November when the online gaming trade body AFJEL published an updated study into the illegal iGaming market, which said the number of French consumers visiting illegal sites had risen 35% to 5.4 million in the past two years and called for the regulation of online casino in France.

In the meantime, and for all the noise and communication campaigns, unregulated operators continue to target French players and generate millions of euros from the market. This has been going on for many years and the trend has been exacerbated by crypto operators in recent years. Speaking of which, the death of the French streamer Jean Pormanove on Kick was particularly shocking. 

Kick is owned by Stake and acts as a major affiliate to crypto-gambling websites, but more than that the level of physical abuse Pormanove was subjected to, all of it published and freely available to viewers who would bid for his comrades to subject him to ever more degrading physical pain and humiliation, was a dire example of the type of material that can be published on the platform. Stake responded with the usual bromides and by saying it does not operate in France. 

Still, one online casino that probably wishes it had ceased operating in France is Cresus Casino. As revealed by this reporter, its CEO Grégoire Auzoux and one of his colleagues were arrested by Cypriot police in September following a Europol operation. 

Further revelations by Le Parisien newspaper showed that Auzoux earned €70,000 per month and the company had generated revenues of €1bn and profits of around €350m since 2020. The arrests were spectacular and provided titillating details, but they haven’t prevented myriad other online casino groups from targeting such a highly lucrative and untaxed market.

Bet365 and the New Romantics!

SBC/Gaming&Co also revealed that bet365 would be launching in France next year, with its licence due to be granted in time for the World Cup in North America. The news showed that despite high taxes, low pay out ratios and a historic offering that caters to many different bet types, France is a major market that international groups want to be active in.

Further rumours state that another tier 1 brand, Betano’s name is often mentioned, could follow Bet365. Of course, those operators have very deep pockets, high awareness brands and will be able to withstand early losses, a luxury that smaller players just don’t have. One contact close to Bet365 also told this reporter that all the potential barriers to success, the group actually “feels there is a strong hand to play” in France. 

Current market leaders, think Betclic, Winamax or FDJ-Unibet, may not be looking forward to the presence of the UK giant on their turf, but there is no doubt it will boost the market, even if it  also has an inflationary impact on advertising costs and marketing partnerships, although publishers and affiliates will breathe a sigh of relief that the UK group will be active in the market as there had been major worries about the country’s 15% levy on media spend introduced in during the summer. In addition, with smaller brands like DAZN, Vibrez and Yes or No also launching, it shows that the market is active, even if very tough.

Tax reshapes market 

Speaking of taxes, something France seldom shies away from raising them when it needs extra revenues, the introduction in July of higher taxes on operators to fund the country’s social security budget showed that as of July, lottery and Euromillions levies increased to 69%, retail sports betting increased from 41.1% to 42.1%, online sports betting jumped from 54.9% to 59.3% and online poker is now taxed at 10% of GGR (up from 0.2% of stakes). Industry contacts often comment with a heavy dose of sarcasm that the one tax raising exercise that could bring in up to €1.5bn in revenues would be to regulate online casino.    

FDJ United and PMU, the country’s lottery and racing tote monopoly operators, have, in their own different ways, also had tough years. The tax rises had a clear impact on FDJ United’s results, while its €2.5bn acquisition of Unibet parent group Kindred has come under scrutiny following major regulatory fines in the UK and Netherlands. PMU meanwhile has finally appointed a new CEO, but it is under severe pressure to reform. The next 12 months will be key periods for both operators, with both facing huge restructuring, product, tech and corporate integrations.

Finally, Betclic’s acquisition of a 65% stake in the German sports betting market leader Tipico has been one of the transactions of the year. Following the news, some contacts were doubtful about how sustainable Germany’s highly restricted and illegal operator-dominated online betting and gaming market was. But Betclic, and Winamax albeit on a slightly smaller scale, has proven that a focus on strong products and UX can enable operators to grow in tightly controlled markets such as France, Poland or Portugal. The expectation is that it will continue on this path in Germany with Tipico.

 Returning to the topic of online casino regulation, we’ll finish this round up with the words of Banijay Entertainment chairman Stéphane Courbit, who told investors in May that France and its government have “huge debt levels” and could not afford to miss out on the “€1.5bn or €2bn” that regulation of the vertical could generate in tax revenues.

“So it (regulation) will happen, the government of Michel Barnier started the process but it was stopped. But it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”