The debate over the future of online gambling in France has intensified after the country’s land-based casino association, Casinos de France, strongly denounced what it described as “falsehoods” from the online gaming lobby AFJEL. The trade body argues that legalising online casinos would harm local economies, undermine social cohesion, and lead to substantial financial losses rather than generating the additional revenue that digital gaming advocates promise.
AFJEL’s Call for Reform Sparks Industry Backlash
The confrontation was triggered by AFJEL’s recent campaign to push for the legalisation of online casinos as a way to curb illegal gambling and strengthen state revenues. At its annual general meeting in Paris, AFJEL President Nicolas Béraud urged authorities to address the rise of unlicensed gambling sites and adjust taxation to make the regulated market more competitive. He cited a study showing that the number of French players using illegal websites had climbed 35% in two years, reaching 5.4 million users, with casino-style games dominating that segment.
Béraud questioned the government’s recent tax policy, criticising measures such as the 15% levy on marketing and sponsorship spending. He said such policies send conflicting signals: “One cannot tell that sports (bodies) must find private money to compensate for cuts in public funding and, on the other hand, threaten their new partners with taxation because of their support for sport.”
AFJEL’s report claimed that regulating the online casino market could bring in €1.2 billion in tax revenue currently lost to offshore operators — a figure Casinos de France called entirely unfounded.
In a sharply worded response, Casinos de France accused AFJEL of misleading the public and policymakers. The association’s president, Grégory Rabuel, who also leads the Barrière Group, said the claimed tax recovery figure “does not exist.” He added: “It’s a hoax, and worse, it’s a loss for the state — destruction of local jobs, reduction of municipal budgets, the withering away of cultural life in towns and villages. I’m not even mentioning the impact on the mental health of the French, which would amount to hundreds of millions in additional costs for social security.”
The organisation warned that legalisation would cause a net annual loss of €546 million for public finances when indirect effects on health and employment are factored in. It described the move as a “dangerous illusion” that would ultimately shrink the land-based casino market, which currently consists of 203 casinos and seven gaming clubs across France, employing more than 31,000 people.
As stated on the company’s LinkedIn profile, Casinos de France said this network contributes €1.6 billion annually in tax and social security revenue, including €600 million directed to municipalities that rely on casino-generated funds to support cultural and economic initiatives.
Physical Casinos Defend Their “Human and Responsible” Model
The association contrasted the supervised environment of land-based casinos with the risks of online gambling. It stressed that French casinos operate under a “social, human, and profoundly responsible model” with strict oversight. “In a physically supervised gaming environment, casinos are the only places where every player is screened before even crossing the threshold, where minors are systematically excluded and where risky behaviors are identified and addressed by trained staff,” Casinos de France said in its statement.
The group also cited examples from other countries that have liberalised online gambling. In Sweden, it noted, legalisation led to the closure of all land-based casinos — including Svenska Spel’s last Casino Cosmopol venue — while almost 40% of bets continue to be placed on unauthorised sites. Similar problems, it added, persist in Finland, Switzerland, and Belgium, where illegal sites continue to resurface despite regulation or DNS blocking.
“Everywhere, the promise of new revenue has turned into a net loss for local communities: decreased activity, job losses, a surge in risky behavior, and the persistence of a thriving black market,” the statement read. “The mechanism is relentless: when digital offerings take hold, they capture existing customers without creating new players. The market doesn’t expand, it shifts, and illegal activity takes hold.”
Casinos de France also pointed to recent enforcement success as proof that the current framework is sufficient. It highlighted a joint operation between the SCCJ and the ANJ that dismantled the illegal Crésus Casino website as evidence that French law already enables authorities to take decisive action.
The association concluded by urging the government to enhance regulatory resources rather than open the market to online casinos. “Let us not allow the legalization of an activity that is dangerous to the health of the French people and destabilizing for the economies of local communities and the country as a whole,” it warned.
