Online Sports Betting in France 2024

Online Betting in France – Legal but Heavily Regulated

After state-owned sites launched the first online betting sites in 2001, France expanded legalized online and remote gambling via a 2009 bill, which went into effect in May 2010 – just before the FIFA World Cup that year. The laws allowed for online sports betting, as well as online poker and online horse racing pools from operators throughout the EU. Previously, only state-owned betting sites had been allowed in France.

At the time, ARJEL served as the chief online gambling regulatory body in France.

Playing on licensed sites comes with a wide variety of benefits. You will never have to worry about falling victim to scams or have to deal with operators who might shut down without being able to pay you. By sticking to licensed and regulated betting sites, you’ll always be able to turn to ANJ to resolve any problems or disputes you have while playing.

Depositing at French Betting Sites

Betting sites in France offer you a wide variety of ways to deposit money into your accounts. While each site has its own list of methods, many of the most popular options are available at most or all of our recommended sites.

Traditional banking options can be used at most betting sites. For instance, you can typically transfer money from your bank account directly to a betting site. Another popular method is the use of a credit or debit card, which allows for instant, secure transfers, just like with online shopping.

You may be more familiar with PayPal, which is used worldwide for money transfers. While PayPal does not generally allow itself to be used for unlicensed gambling, you can utilize it as a deposit method at many regulated betting sites.

Prepaid options are quite popular among users who don’t have access to traditional banking accounts, or don’t want to share their financial information.

One of the most widespread of these methods is Paysafecard, a card that can be purchased at retail outlets throughout France as well as online. You can find more information about how to buy and use Paysafecard from the company’s French website.

French Gambling History and Laws

French gambling history dates back to at least the 16th century. The French made their mark on card games in the 1500s by adding the queens to the standard poker deck. In the 17th century French mathematician Blaise Pascal invented the roulette wheel.

The French government banned all forms of gambling except for horse racing in 1836, but underground dens still proliferated. In 1842, brothers Louis and Francois Blanc added a zero to Pascal’s invention to make the roulette wheel a standard of casinos around the world. In 1867, the French invented pari-mutuel betting, which remains still the primary way horse racing is bet around the world today.

As sports betting began to gain popularity in the late 19th century, it was seen as a threat to the horse racing industry. The French Parliament specifically banned all fixed-odds betting in 1891, while creating the state-owned Pari Mutuel Hippodrome (PMH), which could legally run horse racing pools.

FDJ and PMU remained monopolies for decades, contributing much of their profits to financing various sports, including football clubs. In 1983, pool-betting greyhounds became legal. In 1987, the legal gambling age was lowered from 21 to 18. In 1997, Basque pelota betting was legalised.

In 2001, FDJ and PMU received permission to offer their services online, which led to the launch of the first legal internet gambling sites in France. The two companies lost their monopoly in 2010, when the French market was opened to operators from other European Union nations. The French Autorité de régulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL) was established to regulate the online gambling industry and providing licensing for legal betting sites.

In 2020, l’Autorite nationale des Jeux (ANJ) was established to oversee all forms of gambling in France, superseding the role of ARJEL. ANJ currently lists 27 legal online sports betting in France, which are provided by 14 approved operators. Those sites include not only sports betting, but also horse race betting and poker. However, traditional casino games are not available at regulated French gambling sites under current laws.