French gambling regulator says more efforts needed to reduce problem gambling
The ANJ aims to reduce excessive gambling by 2027.
France.- The French gambling regulator L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) says more efforts are needed to meet its target for reducing problem gambling by 2027. While it welcomed operators’ progress in reducing excessive play and underage access, it said more work is needed.
The regulator has also raised concerns over prediction market platforms and has called for a whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling advertising in France.
The ANJ said its latest review found that most licensed operators have introduced stronger measures to deter underage participation, including enhanced age verification, targeted awareness campaigns, and parental control guidance. Detection of excessive gambling behaviour online has improved significantly, with 89,000 excessive players identified in 2025 compared to 31,000 the previous year.
Casinos and gaming clubs have expanded prevention training, with more than 2,200 staff completing ANJ’s e-learning module launched in late 2024. Meanwhile, racecourse operators, under the National Federation of Horse Racing, have increased player information and volunteer training, although the ANJ insists on stricter safeguards, such as separating family areas from betting zones and ensuring children’s entertainment does not indirectly encourage gambling.
Despite the advances, an ARPEJ survey, conducted with ANJ support, revealed that in 2025, 42.6 per cent of 5,000 respondents aged 15–17 had gambled at least once in the previous year. That’s an increase of nearly eight percentage points from 2021.
Earlier this year, the ANJ implemented the Jeux à Objets Numériques Monétisables (JONUM) regime, a three-year experimental framework for games involving monetisable digital objects such as NFTs and blockchain-based items.
