Is online gambling legal in France?

Winnings are generally tax-free; only a habitual, skilled player earning significant income (for example at poker) can be taxed. Minors are barred (in practice under 18), and the national exclusion register lets you bar yourself from licensed sites for three years. Help: Joueurs Info Service, 09 74 75 13 13, 8h to 23h, 7 days.

1. 1ANJ: Operateurs agrees
2. 2ANJ, 'L'offre illégale' (player-facing page)
3. 3Décret n° 2010-518 du 19 mai 2010 relatif à l'offre de jeux et de paris des opérateurs de jeux et a la mise à disposition de l'Autorite nationale des jeux des données de jeux (consolidated, in force 8 Oct 2026)
4. 4ANJ: Offre de jeux et canaux de distribution

Using a VPN to reach gambling sites from France: No offence for the player was found; from 5 August 2026 the ANJ can order providers of circumvention services to block illegal gambling sites.

Gambling with crypto: Not accepted on licensed sites: the ANJ reads the payment rules as excluding crypto-currencies and says stakes and winnings in crypto are in principle forbidden; in 2021 it obtained a court order blocking a site that took bets paid in crypto-currency. Online casino play is prohibited however it is paid. The JONUM experiment (in force since 7 February 2026) lets offerers give winners monetisable digital objects but not euros, under a prior declaration to the ANJ.

Online casino: Not applicable: online casino is prohibited. Sports betting, lottery: 18. Minors, even emancipated ones, may not take part in authorised gambling (certain lotteries excepted). The statute does not print an age; minors are under 18 under the Civil Code, and the ANJ's advertising framework uses a '-18 ans' logo. An online operator must refuse an account to a minor and check identity and age within 30 days.

• Tax on winnings: Generally none. Pure-chance winnings are untaxed; a habitual skilled player with significant income can be taxed as non-commercial profit ↗

The tax authority's doctrine says that playing games of pure chance (lotteries, raffles and similar) is not a lucrative occupation and gives rise to no tax on the player, however often they play. The exception is the habitual practice of a game against opponents where the player masters the chance element through skill and earns significant income; those winnings are taxed as non-commercial profits. Poker is the licensed online product it can reach. No rate or threshold is set for that case, and nothing was found requiring the operator to withhold tax from winnings: the levies the operator pays are on its revenue and your stakes, not deducted from your winnings. Whether a non-resident's online winnings are French-source income is not confirmed.

16 operators and 22 sites on the ANJ list (captured 6 October 2026) in France, as of 4 Nov 2026.

Always verify a casino holds a valid Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) licence before depositing. Check the official register before signing up.

The official register of licensed sitesAutorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ)'s website

Prominent operators in France

If a site isn't on the regulator's licensee register, ask the regulator before you play: an unlisted site is usually not licensed here (a register can lag behind a new licence). An unlicensed site is outside the regulator's supervision, so you cannot complain to the regulator about it.

• ✓
  Check the operator and the site address on the ANJ list

  Only operators and sites on the ANJ's list of approved operators are licensed (16 operators and 22 sites on 6 October 2026). If the site is not on it, it is not licensed in France.

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  Do not rely on a logo

  No rule requires a licence number or regulator logo in advertising. The ANJ says a site that shows the approved-operator logo but is not on its list is using it fraudulently. Always check the list.

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  A licensed French site offers only betting, horse betting and poker

  If a site offers slots, roulette, blackjack or live casino to players in France, it is outside the licensed market. Such sites are offshore, are blocked by the ANJ and give you no protection if winnings are not paid.

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  Look for the warning message

  Licensed sites must show the gambling warning and the helpline number 09-74-75-13-13; the wording is fixed by the arrêté of 4 March 2026 for online games from 6 September 2026.

• ✓
  Use the national self-exclusion register

  The ANJ's register (interdictiondejeux.anj.fr) bars you from licensed online betting and poker sites, FDJ's online site, PMU account games and casinos for three years, renewable. Exclusion from a single operator applies only to that operator.

What you can expect from a licensed site's offers in France. The rules operators must follow are on the operator page.

Official changes that affect players, newest first, each with the document it comes from. A change marked not yet in our report is confirmed in the official text but not yet worked into our research report and the answers on this page.

Our daily watch reads the official publishers we follow for France. A change is listed once it has been checked against the official document, by a person or, where marked, by our automated check. Dates are the official dates, not the day we found the change. Where no researcher has written the summary yet, it is our automated reading of the official document, with every figure checked against its words; the official words are under each change.

Official guidance, court decisions and changes to the list of blocked gambling sites in France, newest first, each linked to the official text.

Our daily watch reads the official publishers we follow; each item is listed once a person has checked it against the official text, and every sentence is taken from that text. Dates are the official dates where the text gives one, else the day it was published.

• Helpline: 09 74 75 13 13. Joueurs Info Service: open 7 days a week, 8h to 23h, anonymous, not surcharged ↗
• Deposit and stake limits: Set by you. Before your first deposit and stake you set a seven-day maximum for each; a raised limit takes effect no earlier than 48 hours later ↗
• Identity check: 30 days. You can play on a provisional account but cannot withdraw; without documents it is deactivated at 30 days and closed at 60 ↗
• Loss limits: From 1 Jan 2027. None until then; players aged 18 to 25 will be able to raise their limits only after a delay of at least two weeks ↗

1. 1

   1. Write to the operator

   Make a written complaint to the licensed operator's customer service and keep a record of the exchange. The law requires an applicant to present a free complaints procedure, but no statutory reply deadline was found.

2. 2

   2. Refer the dispute to the games mediator

   If the operator's answer does not satisfy you, or there is no answer within 20 days of sending the complaint, you can refer the dispute to the médiateur des jeux, a mediator attached to the ANJ who takes no instructions on disputes. His proposal is not binding: either side can refuse it or withdraw at any time. The ANJ itself does not investigate individual reports and cannot obtain compensation for a player.

   Contact the mediator (via the ANJ)
3. 3

   3. Go to court

   Mediation does not prevent court action. The ANJ cannot order an operator to repay a player: its sanctions are warnings, licence measures and fines, not restitution.

• Myth

  Gambling winnings are taxed at the end of the year.
  Reality

  Generally not. Winnings from games of chance are not taxed for ordinary players. Only a habitual player who uses skill to earn significant income, for example at poker, is taxed, as non-commercial profits.

• Myth

  A casino with an offshore licence is fine for French players.
  Reality

  False. The ANJ says a foreign online-casino licence has no recognised legal value in France. These sites are not on the ANJ list, give no protection if winnings are not paid, and are blocked by the ANJ, sometimes with payments blocked as well.

• Myth

  A site that shows an approved-operator logo must be legal.
  Reality

  False. The ANJ says a site that shows the 'opérateur agréé' logo but is not on its list is using it fraudulently. The check that matters is the ANJ list of approved operators and sites.