French Casinos

Searching for premium online casinos in France? Browse our expert list of French-friendly casino sites with secure payments and helpful support.

France is among the countries that boast a rich, long history as far as gambling is concerned. Some of the oldest gambling venues in Europe are located on French soil, not to mention this is the country that introduced the Queen to the standard 52-card deck we have all come to know and play with today. Many traditional table games were born in France, including staples such as blackjack and baccarat. France was also the place where the mathematician Blaise Pascal invented the roulette wheel in an attempt to create a perpetual motion machine.

Yet, despite France’s colorful gambling profile, the country’s legal stance on online gambling remains rather paradoxical. Both land-based and some forms of online gambling are legal within the country, but heavy restrictions are imposed on the latter, preventing the French market from developing to its full potential. Despite the limited number of options French players are provided with, gambling remains a popular form of recreation in the country, with millions of residents placing bets online.

While the Gambling Act of 2009 legalized online gambling in France, the local Regulatory Authority for Online Games (ARJEL), which was restructured as the Gambling Authority (ANJ) in 2019, has yet to issue any online-casino licenses, leaving French players no other choice but to turn to offshore brands. While this means they would be participating in unlicensed online gaming, French authorities still have not taken any measures against those who join offshore online casinos.

Below, we offer French players an overview of the current gambling legislation in their homeland as well as brief information on the country’s regulatory authorities and taxation policies. We have also listed several online casinos where French players can enjoy a vast variety of gaming options, generous promotions, and, overall, a great online gaming experience.

Best French-Friendly Casinos

Below, we have compiled a concise list of top online casinos welcoming players from France. These operators cater to the preferences of different players, providing diverse gaming options that include everything from classic slots to innovative live-dealer tables. The majority of these brands support payments in EUR, enabling fee-free transactions for French players who thus avoid currency-conversion surcharges.

Generous promotions are also among the perks the following casino brands offer their new members. Meanwhile, regular players can often take advantage of recurring offers, making their casino journeys even more riveting.

France’s Stance on Online Gambling

The legal framework with regard to online gambling in France remained rather complicated for quite some time. All forms of interactive betting were considered illegal in the country until 2005, when the first steps toward regulation of the online gambling market were made. Once again, it was the European Commission that intervened and pressured France into opening its gambling market, as was the case with several other European countries.

After conducting an extensive investigation of France’s interactive gambling climate in 2006, the European Commission requested that several amendments be made to the existing legislation so that it became compliant with the European Union’s laws regarding free trade. Some of the conditions the Commission deemed “unfavorable” included the French gambling taxation system, the limited number of gambling options offered by operators, and the rigid requirement to keep gambling servers within the country.

This pressure resulted in the French authorities introducing a new bill in 2009 that would at least partially open the country’s online gambling market to competition from operators based in other member states of the European Union.

The French Gambling Act

The French Gambling Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation on gambling in France, as it helped the country take its first steps toward market liberalization. The Act officially came into effect on May 12, 2010, and states that both land-based and online gambling are legal in France as long as the operators have acquired a license from a local regulatory body. On that note, it is also worth mentioning that the enforcement of the French Gambling Act coincided with the establishment of a new regulatory body, the Regulatory Authority for Online Games, which was to oversee and control the online gaming market in the country.

Much to the dismay of French casino game fans, the Act lifted the ban only on specific forms of online gambling. France may be the country where the roulette wheel originated, yet players in this jurisdiction are not allowed to legally partake in roulette games over the Internet. The same applies in full force to other games of chance, such as online slots, arcades, baccarat, and craps. Blackjack is also excluded from the list of legal online gambling options, despite the fact that skilled gamblers can influence the outcome of the hands through advantage play. These casino games are available for real-money play only at brick-and-mortar gambling establishments in France.

French legislators are primarily focused on preventing players from becoming addicted to certain games that are based on chance. Lawmakers argue that playing the aforementioned games online carries a higher risk of developing a pathological gambling problem since these titles rely solely on luck, as opposed to games like poker where players can modify their strategy and win thanks to their skills, experience, and knowledge.

Thus, the Act allows operators that have acquired local licenses to offer only three forms of online gambling to French residents, namely poker (the Act states “club” games, but in practice poker is the only table game permitted), sports betting, and horse-race betting. Some of the largest poker platforms in the world have already received licenses to legally operate in France, including industry giants PokerStars and partypoker. Then again, many online casino operators are not eligible to receive a French license by default because their portfolios consist predominantly of games of chance, which are deemed “addictive” by French legislators.

Online poker has been legal throughout the country for several years now, but operators must pay hefty fees and taxes after obtaining their licenses from the French authorities. This is precisely what impedes the growth of the gambling market in the country.

Gambling Regulatory Bodies in France

Currently, there are several regulatory entities that are responsible for the supervision of gambling activities within France. Land-based betting is regulated and supervised by two different bodies, namely the Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) and the Pari Mutuel Hippodrome (PMH), which oversee the horse-racing sector of the French market. Meanwhile, the national lottery and other similar games of chance, such as bingo, are under the control of the Française des Jeux (FDJ).

As mentioned above, the Regulatory Authority for Online Games is the body responsible for the licensing and regulation of all permitted forms of online gambling in France. ARJEL can issue interactive gambling operators three different types of licenses – for online sports-betting services (which include pool betting, live betting, and fixed-odds betting); for web-based horse-racing betting services; and for online poker products (covering variations such as Omaha Poker 4 and Texas Hold’em Limit/No Limit/Pot Limit). The listed poker variations can be offered by licensed operators in the form of cash games or tournaments.

The Regulatory Authority for Online Games also ensures the locally licensed gambling providers operate in compliance with its guidelines. Other responsibilities of ARJEL include the protection of vulnerable players, prevention of pathological gambling, ensuring fair play on behalf of online gambling operators, dealing with unauthorized gambling websites, and the prevention of financial fraud and money-laundering practices.

France made the first steps toward market restrictions when, in June 2010, the Regulatory Authority reached out to unauthorized gambling websites that were known to accept players from the country and politely demanded they cease these practices if they did not intend to apply for a local license. Since these offshore operators were licensed under jurisdictions where online casino games were legal, French authorities had no way of effectively prosecuting them. Because of this, the authorities opted for restricting players’ access to such unlicensed websites rather than levying fines on them. The former was obviously deemed the more effective option.

Once operators obtain a French license, they are subjected to system verifications and various compliance audits on a regular basis. The Regulatory Authority has published an official list of authorized gambling operators on its website for all French players to see and updates it regularly. Another requirement is for online gambling operators to offer their services via a French domain ending in the .fr extension.

Very few online gambling operators continue to accept French players and cater to their needs. Some web-based casinos support the French language, which allows players from the country to conveniently manage their accounts, process payments, and participate in promotional offers in their native tongue. Since France is a member state of the European Union, French players are typically able to deposit in EUR. However, because such operators are not licensed by ARJEL, they risk facing fines for offering their services to local players. The good news is that players are not subjected to prosecution by the local government for betting at unauthorized casino websites.

Taxes on Online Gambling in France

Opening its market to foreign competitors results in a number of benefits for local players, as they are provided with the option to choose from a wider range of licensed, secure gambling websites where they can legally bet on poker and sports. However, there is one major stumbling block to the market’s liberalization, and it stems from the excessive taxes levied by the local government.

Taxes are imposed on both poker and sports betting, but the taxation system in France works a bit differently when compared to that in other countries. For instance, there is a 2% tax imposed on poker pots plus the rake that online poker operators typically collect from each pot. This translates into French players having to pay around 7.5% in overall rake per pot, as opposed to other countries where poker fans pay an average rake of 4% to 5% per pot. Meanwhile, there is a tax of 8.5% on all sports-betting wagers.

Licensed gambling operators offering sports betting, horse-race betting, and poker services over the web to French citizens are also expected to pay various taxes. The procedures concerning the application are similar for all three services, but a separate license must be issued for each. Thus, approved licensees are required to pay a fee of €2,000, €8,000, or €10,000 for one, two, or all three licenses, respectively. In addition, there are annual fees that amount to €20,000, €30,000, and €40,000, depending on the number of licenses the gambling operators hold.

The Future of Online Gambling in France

France may have commenced treading the thorny path toward market liberalization, but unfortunately, its market is not growing at a rapid pace. This can easily be attributed to the fact that the number of options available to players from France is quite limited, with poker, sports, and horse-race betting being pretty much the only legal forms of online gambling in the country.

The excessive corporate taxes and license fees are yet another obstacle to the market’s development, as they prevent a good number of established online operators from even applying for a local license. Some large poker operators, such as Titan Poker, PKR Poker, and 888poker, have already opted to leave the market altogether, citing the burdensome taxes as the reason.

Many French poker players still prefer to engage in their favorite game of skill at unauthorized poker websites, which have not obtained local licenses. This can be easily explained by the disadvantageous conditions under which French poker fans are forced to play. Unfortunately, the higher rake per pot is not the only drawback players from France face. In addition, French poker fans registered at leading poker platforms like PokerStars are “fenced off” from fellow players in other countries, since the French regulations dictate that only permanent residents of France can contribute to the accumulation of online poker pools. Thus, when a player accesses a licensed poker website via its .fr domain, they are able to compete only against other people located on French soil. As of February 2017, Winamax became the only online poker platform in France to accept registrations from people residing in other countries.

This segregation prevents French poker websites from generating enough interest among local players, as the latter simply have no incentive to bet there because of the smaller pools. In addition, it also leads to liquidity problems for the interactive poker operators themselves due to the limited player base frequenting their websites.

The online gambling market in France has tremendous potential to grow, provided that various amendments are made to the current legislation, including a reduction of license fees and the lifting of restrictions on online poker pools.

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