AFJEL warns illegal gambling surpasses French legal betting

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has issued a brief statement in which it commented on data provided by AFJEL, the French Online Gaming Association, focusing on the share of black market activity recorded during the recently concluded Euro 2024.

AFJEL worries over French sports betting market black market’s growth

According to AFJEL, there has been a significant decrease in legal sports betting, with the black market attracting more interest among players. This, EGBA said, was a worrying trend to see all together.

Some of the key trends registered by AFJEL and stakeholders committed to the regulated market included a worrying stagnation of the number of wagers placed on the event.

According to the official press release, wagers have not grown compared to Euro 2021. The betting activity registered was 25% lower than that for the 2022 World Cup.

Early estimates by ANJ, the National Games Authority, i.e. France’s gambling regulator, have also widely missed the mark as well, with these figures proving to be 50% of the actual sports betting handle.

The AFJEL said that the betting market experienced what it described as "abnormally" low figures and a disappointing sports betting handle, not least because France had reached the semi-finals.

The ANJ, for example, said that the betting handle should reach €1bn ($1.1bn), but these prognostications did bear out. The AFJEL further warned that they were worried about several consecutive years of "no growth" in the regulated betting market, citing both 2022 and 2023 as flat years for sports betting handles.

AFJEL claims betting black market outstrips the legal gambling market

France is facing another dilemma, warn AFJEL – the rise of the black market, which is equally worrying for EGBA.

According to the French industry body, the black market has already surpassed the legal betting market – a statement that if true would prove a major blow to efforts to safeguard the market and protect consumers.

AFJEL insists that the number of participants in the black market now stands at 4m players in 2023, compared to 3.6m who participate in the legal gambling market. These figures would suggest that France has a channelization rate of less than 50%.

Gambling markets have undergone tectonic shifts for less. The problem has to do with the fact that many illegal operators continue to successfully target and undermine the regulated market, offering Euro 2024 products in the most recent case, but notably intensifying their offers over the past years.

The AFJEL has also condemned "les règles de jeu," or in other words the rules of the game. Although regulated operators are sticking by ANJ’s playbook, offshore gambling companies are not, nor do they face serious consequences for flouting existing gambling laws in the country.

"There are several reasons for this: the first is that the operators played the game, by the ANJ guidelines and the rules for the protection of players whose systems continue to be improved," said AFJEL President Nicolas Béraud.

The ANJ and lawmakers may need to step up and address the outstanding problem, which is that foreign operators, without the necessary licenses, have a free reign over the French market if AFJEL’s figures are indeed accurate.

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