Quick Answer
The Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) licenses France’s online gambling market for sports betting, horse-race betting and poker only. Online casino games stay prohibited nationally. So a gambling payment gateway for France needs Cartes Bancaires support, since it’s the dominant local card scheme. It also needs PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication, popular e-wallets such as PaysafeCard, Skrill and Neteller, plus built-in ANJ self-exclusion and anti-money-laundering checks.
France is one of Europe’s largest regulated gambling markets. Its payment rules are unusually specific, too. Get the licensing and payment stack right, and operators can process cleanly through Cartes Bancaires, SEPA and the e-wallets French bettors already trust. Get it wrong, and they risk blocked transactions, ANJ enforcement or a merchant account decline. This guide covers what a France-facing gambling payment gateway needs. It also covers where casino merchant account approval and social gaming merchant account routes fit for operators serving this market.
France’s Online Gambling Market at a Glance
France’s regulated gambling market generated a record €14.1 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in 2025. That’s up 3% on the prior year, and online gambling was the main growth driver.
- Online GGR reached €2.617 billion in 2025, up 8.5% year-on-year and now 18.5% of the total market
- Unique online players rose 7.5% to 4.2 million; active online accounts grew 7.1% to 6.1 million
- Players active across more than one vertical (sports betting, poker, horse racing) surged 25%
- Roughly 14 operators hold ANJ agréments across the sportsbook and poker segments
This growth is exactly why a compliant, well-routed payment gateway matters. Every new account funds through a card, bank rail or e-wallet. Any friction at deposit or withdrawal costs operators real revenue in a market this size.
How ANJ Regulates Online Gambling Payments in France?
The Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) is France’s single national gambling regulator. Ordonnance n° 2019-1015 (2019) established it, modernising the market that Loi n° 2010-476 (2010) first opened. The most recent reform, Loi n° 2025-199 (2025), reshaped how gambling taxes are calculated.
ANJ licenses three online verticals, each under its own agrément:
- Online sports betting
- Online horse-race betting (alongside PMU’s retail exclusivity)
- Online poker
Online casino games and online esports betting remain prohibited and unlicensed. A government consultation on legalising online casino games is ongoing, but any change is unlikely before late 2026 at the earliest. ANJ applicants must be established in a European Economic Area (EEA) state. They also submit AML, technical and financial-guarantee documentation, and the review typically runs several months. Agréments run for five years and are renewable.
ANJ oversight extends well beyond licensing. In 2026 the regulator tightened anti-money-laundering duties. Operators must now block designated individuals from opening accounts, and they must freeze funds immediately once a restriction turns up. ANJ also rolled out a 23-indicator behavioural algorithm to benchmark how well operators detect excessive or pathological gambling, under newly appointed president Pascal Chèvremont.
Casino Merchant Account Approval: What Operators Serving France Actually Need
Online casino games have no licensing path in France. So “casino merchant account approval” for this market works differently than it does in countries where online slots and table games are regulated outright.
- Land-based casinos and the Paris clubs de jeux operate under a separate regime, extended experimentally to 2027, with in-person rather than digital payment flows
- Operators targeting French-speaking players with real-money online casino products generally hold an EEA or offshore license covering markets where that product is legal, and geoblock or exclude French IP addresses for the casino vertical
Casino merchant account approval in this context depends on the operator’s actual licensing footprint outside France, clean AML documentation, and a payment partner that understands high-risk gaming underwriting
DozyPay supports casino merchant account approval for EEA-licensed and offshore-licensed operators. We help build compliant payment stacks around the French market, without processing unlicensed online casino activity inside France itself.
Social Gaming Merchant Account: The Compliant Alternative in France
Where real-money online casino gambling is off-limits, social and sweepstakes-style casino games remain a workable, compliant vertical. This is where a social gaming merchant account fits into a French payment strategy.
France added a relevant framework in early 2026: JONUM (Jeux à Objets Numériques Monétisables). It’s an experimental three-year ANJ pilot for games built around monetisable digital objects, including Web3 and NFT-style mechanics. Games in this pilot can operate under ANJ supervision without a full gambling license. They just need to meet the programme’s player-protection and AML standards and file a mandatory JONUM declaration.
- In-app purchases and virtual-currency top-ups need payment rails that support recurring and one-off card charges without triggering gambling-specific MCC restrictions
- A social gaming merchant account should separate cleanly from any real-money gambling MCC, reducing decline rates and reserve requirements
- JONUM’s declaration requirement means payment partners should be ready to document the product’s mechanics for AML review, even outside a full gambling license
Gambling Tax and Licensing Costs in France
From 1 July 2025, France moved gambling taxation from a turnover basis to a gross gaming revenue (GGR) basis. Combined social contributions then push the effective burden well above the headline rate on each vertical.
| Vertical | Combined tax + social contribution burden | Notes |
| Online sports betting | 55.2% of GGR | Includes a 10.7% GGR levy plus a further 10.7% National Center for the Development of Sport contribution, layered on other GGR-based charges |
| Online poker | 40.8% of GGR | Headline GGR levy is 10%; combined burden is higher once social contributions are added |
| Online horse-race betting | 37.7% of GGR | Replaces the earlier stake-based tax structure |
| Retail sports betting | 44.5% of GGR | Retail social contribution rose from 6.6% to 7.6% of GGR under the 2025 reform |
These are some of the highest effective gambling tax rates in a major regulated European market. As a result, they shape how operators structure payment costs, processing fees and reserve levels for a France-facing gateway.
Best Payment Methods for a France-Facing Gambling Gateway
French gambling payments are card-led, but a competitive gateway needs more than one rail. Card payments account for 79% of French online transaction value. Cartes Bancaires, the domestic card scheme, carries more than 90% of that card and wallet traffic. Most Cartes Bancaires cards are co-branded with Visa or Mastercard, so they can route over either network.
| Payment method | Role in the French gambling market | Integration notes |
| Cartes Bancaires | Dominant local card scheme, 90%+ of card/wallet traffic | Co-branded with Visa/Mastercard; PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication required, with no SCA exemption above €100 |
| PaysafeCard | Popular prepaid/e-cash option among French bettors | Growing appetite reported by payment providers active in the market |
| Skrill / Neteller | Widely used e-wallets for sportsbook and poker deposits | Preferred by players who want to keep gambling funds separate from a primary bank account |
| SEPA bank transfer | Standard for larger deposits and most withdrawals | Euro-denominated, same-scheme across the EEA |
How to Get a Gaming Merchant Account for the French Market?
Getting approved for a gaming merchant account in France means lining up licensing, documentation and payment rails first.
- Confirm the ANJ agrément covering your vertical — sports betting, horse racing or poker — or verify your partner operator’s license status
- Prepare AML/KYC documentation and proof of EEA establishment, since ANJ applicants must be based in the EEA
- Integrate Cartes Bancaires alongside Visa/Mastercard, with PSD2-compliant Strong Customer Authentication built in from day one
- Add e-wallet and e-cash rails — PaysafeCard, Skrill, Neteller — since French bettor payment preferences are genuinely split across methods
- Build in ANJ’s Interdiction Volontaire self-exclusion checks and the behavioural indicators used for problem-gambling detection
- Work with a high-risk-friendly acquirer that already underwrites gaming and gambling merchants, since generalist processors routinely decline this category
AML, KYC and Responsible Gambling Requirements
ANJ’s 2026 compliance push touches payments directly. Operators must screen for and block designated individuals from opening accounts. They must also freeze funds immediately if a restriction is flagged post-signup. The regulator’s 23-indicator behavioural algorithm then assesses account transactions, playing frequency, self-imposed limits and past interventions. This gives ANJ a common benchmark for operator detection systems.
ANJ has also modernised the Interdiction Volontaire self-exclusion register, moving away from in-person police-station registration toward a faster, ANJ-run digital process. Personalised accounts launching in 2026 will let registrants track their exclusion and request a lift after the three-year minimum. Advertising faces tighter scrutiny too. Licensed operators froze a combined €785 million 2026 promotional budget under ANJ order, and a proposed ban on gambling ads in the five minutes before and after live sporting events remains under consideration.
One more screening point worth building into risk rules: ANJ classifies prediction markets as illegal gambling. The regulator has pushed platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi to geoblock French users. A France-facing payment gateway should treat prediction-market merchant categories the same way it treats unlicensed online casino activity.
Expanding Beyond France: Gambling Payment Gateway Coverage for Ireland, Italy and Canada
Most France-facing operators are also live, or planning to go live, in other regulated markets across Europe and North America. DozyPay’s country-specific payment gateway pages cover the licensing, tax and payment-rail differences market by market.
If Ireland is part of your rollout, check DozyPay’s gambling payment gateway for Ireland guide. It covers the Gambling Regulation Act 2024, GRAI licensing timelines, and Revolut’s outsized share of Irish debit-card gambling deposits.
Italy is one of the largest markets in the 25-country coverage cluster DozyPay is building out. A dedicated gambling payment gateway for Italy page is in production. In the meantime, the Countries We Serve hub tracks which country pages are already live.
For North American coverage, see the gambling payment gateway for Spain
guide. It breaks down Ontario’s iGaming Ontario/AGCO framework, Interac e-Transfer adoption, and the provincial lottery-monopoly markets outside Ontario and soon-to-launch Alberta.
FAQs
Is online casino gambling legal in France?
No. ANJ licenses online sports betting, horse-race betting and poker only. Online casino games such as slots, blackjack and roulette are not licensed, though a government consultation on possible legalisation is ongoing.
What payment methods do French gambling operators need to support?
Cartes Bancaires is essential, since it carries the bulk of French card traffic. PaysafeCard, Skrill and Neteller cover e-wallet and e-cash preferences, and SEPA bank transfer handles larger deposits and most withdrawals.
How much tax do licensed French gambling operators pay?
Combined tax and social-contribution burdens reach 55.2% of GGR for online sports betting, 40.8% for online poker and 37.7% for online horse-race betting, following the July 2025 shift to GGR-based taxation.
Can I get a casino merchant account for the French market?
Only in the sense of supporting an EEA- or offshore-licensed operator whose casino product is legal in the markets it actually serves. France itself has no licensing path for online casino games, so casino merchant account approval here means structuring the payment stack around a compliant licensing footprint, not a France-specific casino license.
What is JONUM and does it affect payment processing?
JONUM is ANJ’s 2026 experimental framework for monetisable digital objects in games, including Web3 and NFT mechanics. Games in the three-year pilot can operate under ANJ supervision without a full gambling license if they meet player-protection and AML standards, which is why a social gaming merchant account structured for JONUM declarations is a realistic route into this space.