On May 12, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted the law 2010-476, concerning the opening to competition and the regulation of online gambling. This was a real industrial earthquake for the gambling sector, which was until now the preserve of two monopolies, the PMU for horse racing and the Française des Jeux for games of chance. Since 2010, the gambling environment has been profoundly transformed and the rise of online gambling has largely sustained the sector's revenues, even during the COVID-19 crisis.
Although beneficial to the economy, gambling in its most serious forms is considered an addiction in the same way as tobacco or drugs. France has transferred the missions of the Gaming Observatory to the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction since 2019.
Online gambling, a young and male audience
The emergence of new gambling industry players during the 2010 decade has popularized the practice among a new segment of the population, the young. In the 4th quarter of 2020, people under 34 years of age represented almost two thirds of online gamblers, for all type of game. They even held 70 percent of online sports betting accounts. Men are overrepresented in the gaming space, with nearly 9 out of 10 user accounts held by men over the same period. Only horse betting had a less unbalanced male/female ratio.Number of online players on the rise, despite the crisis
While the coronavirus crisis hit the French economy hard in 2020, the online gambling market continued to grow. Online sports betting reached nearly 950 million euros in revenue in 2020, despite the postponement of the European Nations Championship and the Tokyo Olympic Games. But the most spectacular growth is the online poker market where revenues have exploded between 2019 and 2020. This dynamism is partly driven by the increase in the number of players, where the number of accounts has increased for sports betting, poker and horse racing as well.Although beneficial to the economy, gambling in its most serious forms is considered an addiction in the same way as tobacco or drugs. France has transferred the missions of the Gaming Observatory to the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction since 2019.
