France's ANJ published its semi-annual gambling report on October 15. Gross gaming revenue outside casinos and gaming clubs came to €5.66bn in the first half of 2026, up just 0.5% on the same period of 2025, against growth of 4.1% a year earlier. The online segment added 11% to reach €1.45bn, or 25.6% of the market. Active gaming accounts stood at 5.85 million, up 24%.
Sports betting drove the online segment, ahead of poker and horse racing. Stakes over the six months rose 10.6% to €6.6bn. Growth ran at 4% from January to May and hit 47% in June, the month the football World Cup began. June accounted for 69% of the rise in active accounts, and operators raised acquisition bonuses almost fourfold against June 2025. Poker contributed €290m of GGR, up 13.4%. Horse racing stakes added 16% to €920m, the strongest growth since 2021.
FDJU saw GGR fall 2% to €3.43bn. Lottery games supplied most of the decline at €64m, with draw games down 7.6%: smaller and fewer Euromillions jackpots, plus lower retail traffic in the second quarter because of hot weather. At PMU, exclusive rights are falling for a third straight year: stakes down 3.8% to €3.1bn, GGR down 5.8% to €782m.
The regulator flagged the structure of betting. On leagues in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia, more than 80% of stakes come from players ANJ classifies as excessive or clearly excessive. ANJ notes this does not necessarily mean those competitions carry a higher addiction risk. On bets covering a single segment of play — a half, a quarter, a set or a game — the share of such players was between 80% and 89% in the second quarter of 2026. Return to player in 2025 was 84.67%, against a cap averaging 85% a year per operator.
