France has launched a faster, fully online self-exclusion system for gamblers. But in a country where illegal sites now outstrip the regulated market, can any national register really keep people away from the most dangerous products?
When France’s National Gambling Authority (ANJ) unveiled its revamped self-exclusion service in November, the message was clear: make it easier to step away from gambling, and do it fast.
The new system promises “a smoother experience and strengthened identity checks,” with registrations processed in around a day. It arrives at a time when more French players than ever are asking for help, and when the games doing the most harm are often the ones the regulator can’t touch.
The ANJ describes voluntary exclusion as a last-resort tool for people who feel their gambling has tipped into danger. In its own words, “voluntary gambling exclusion is a strictly personal and confidential procedure, offered to players who wish to protect themselves against the risks linked to their excessive gambling (financial difficulties, psychological disorders related to addiction, isolation, etc.).”
Once registered, people are barred from entering casinos and gaming clubs, from accessing licensed online sports betting, horse betting and poker sites, and from using online or account-based products from the state operators Française des Jeux and PMU.
The ban is tough by design. “This exclusion is valid for a minimum period of three years. After this period, the person concerned can request the lifting of the exclusion at any time,” the ANJ notes.
The new portal moves the entire journey online. The regulator says it is offering “a new registration process that is 100% digital and secure.” A player starts by submitting a request on the dedicated site, has their identity document authenticated, then takes a live selfie using their smartphone via IDnow. They then “receive confirmation of their registration by email,” with the ban taking effect shortly afterwards.
The authority’s goal is to “reduce, in the long term, the effective registration period and strengthen the security of the identity verification stage.”
The scale of demand is already striking. When the ANJ took over the register in 2021, 40,000 people were listed. Today, more than 85,000 are registered, with a 25% increase in the past two years and 19,000 new exclusions in 2024 alone.
The profile of those signing up tells its own story. According to ANJ figures, “77% of registered persons are men.” Young adults are highly represented: “those aged 18–24 account for 23% of registrants,” and “those aged 25–34 account for 33%.” For the latter, “sports betting is the main reason for requesting exclusion.” Players aged 35–49 make up another quarter of the list, driven largely by sports betting and online poker, while “for those over 65, the casino is the main reason for requesting exclusion.”
From 2026, those on the file will be able to create a personal account to “track their gambling exclusion (access to documents) and, for example, request the lifting of their exclusion.” The ANJ also plans a call programme to “better support players and gather their feedback” on how the ban has affected them.
On paper, it is a modern, tightly controlled system. But it only covers the legal market.
While France refines its national self-exclusion register, the country’s illegal online gambling market has quietly grown larger than the regulated one.
New data from the French online gambling association AFJEL estimates “5.4 million French players on the illegal market versus 3.5 million players on the regulated market” and “+35% in players on the illegal market since 2023.” The group puts gross gaming revenue for illegal sites at “€2 billion… in 2025,” an increase of “+25% since 2023.”
In a concerning assessment, AFJEL notes “the illegal market has surpassed the regulated online gambling market in France,” calling it “the sign of organised crime that has been industrialised and an accessible illegal offer that benefits from extensive advertising on the Internet and social networks.”
The human cost looks even more alarming. The association warns that “more than 3 million players are in a situation of addiction,” and that “62% of players on the illegal market have an excessive and pathological practice… an unprecedented concentration of French players at risk according to the international benchmark.”
Many do not even realise they are outside the law. AFJEL notes that “82% of players do not know that these sites are illegal.”
The most popular products are precisely those France has chosen not to regulate online. AFJEL lists “online casino” as the top illegal activity, followed by sports betting, with “1.3 million French people,” and e-sports betting, with “1 million players.”
Speaking to SiGMA News earlier this year, ANJ Director General, Pauline Hot set out what she views as the regulator’s core priority: holding the line against a gradual cultural shift that treats gambling as a harmless hobby. She was blunt about the stakes. “Even if gambling is authorised and regulated, it should not become a product of everyday consumption,” she warned. “Playing is allowed, but it carries risks. We are committed to fighting the idea that gambling is an ordinary leisure product, because the risks are not ordinary or harmless.”
That mix, an expanding legal market, a booming illegal sector and highly addictive products sitting outside regulation, creates a structural problem for France’s new self-exclusion push.
The ANJ can block access to licensed casinos and regulated sites. It cannot prevent the same person, often in crisis, from typing a different web address into their browser and landing on an offshore online casino that does not recognise the French register, does not verify age and does not apply loss limits.
As Matt Zarb-Cousin, co-founder of the blocking software Gamban, puts it, “licensed operators are required to provide self-exclusion schemes. Illegal sites aren’t. That gives black-market platforms a commercial edge and direct access to those who are actively trying to stay away.”
He says unlicensed sites know exactly what they are doing. “The black market gambling sites are targeting people who have signed up to the self-exclusion registers,” he explained. “It’s a deliberate strategy.”
The technical race is relentless. Operators constantly move. “They will change the domain to try to bypass the software, and they’ll do that in a very systematic way,” he said. “It’s like playing whack-a-mole. New sites just keep emerging.”
Gamban’s response has been to build a broad shield across devices and platforms. “We wanted to build something that was effective and reliable,” Zarb-Cousin said. The company now blocks over 300,000 domains, with the list “growing by about 300 a day,” relying on automation and user reports.
He is quick to say that tools like his are only part of the answer. “Gambling blocking software is not a panacea. It’s not a cure for gambling addiction,” he said. “But it can help someone’s recovery.” For him, “prevention can only really happen through regulation.”
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