{"id":5518,"date":"2020-06-28T06:46:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-28T06:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamblingcity.net\/?p=5518"},"modified":"2020-10-10T08:20:23","modified_gmt":"2020-10-10T08:20:23","slug":"the-past-present-and-future-of-arjel-and-french-online-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gamblingcity.net\/gambling-articles\/2012-06\/arjel-and-legal-online-gambling-in-france.php","title":{"rendered":"The Past, Present and Future of ARJEL and French Online Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a little more than two years since France, under pressure from the European community, opened its doors to legal online gambling. In line with our current article series assessing\u00a0the fallout of Black Friday<\/a>\u00a0and its effect on web gambling in Italy, Germany and other burgeoning markets, it seems only fitting to take explore French online betting as well.<\/p>\n

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Below is an in-depth analysis of French gambling statistics, an explanation of ARJEL and its function as France’s licensing and regulatory body and a forecast for the future of online gambling in one of\u00a0Europe’s hottest betting markets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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France’s Love Affair with Gambling<\/h2>\n

The history of gambling in France is long and amorous. Two years before the advent of legal internet betting in France, 29.2 million French citizens – nearly one in every two people – bet on some form of gambling, spending nearly $USD 736 billion. Among these players, a third gambled at least once a week.<\/p>\n

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Despite this, the French spend much less on gambling than most of their betting-friendly counterparts. Whereas French per capita gambling expenditures average 570 euros per year, Brits top out at 1640 euros and Aussies bet a whopping 1640 euros per year on gambling games.<\/p>\n

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How to explain the difference? The answer lies in the types of gambling in which French bettors participate. French players are serious fans of sportsbetting, lotto and scratch games. Less popular are casino games, which at 2.55 billion euros in 2008, comprised just 5% of total gambling expenditures.<\/p>\n

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This is due largely to the fact that France is home to only 196 casinos, all of which are subject to numerous regulations imposed by both the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance.<\/p>\n

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French law permits only resorts, spas and geographic regions that meet specific requirements to operate casinos. Among these geographic regions are tourist cities with over 500,000 residents. Casinos here operate under the jurisdiction of local authorities. However, the process is not simple.<\/p>\n

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French Online Gambling Since Legalization<\/h2>\n

In May 2010 France legalized online gambling<\/a>, and many expected French-based gambling operations to suffer. In fact, French games continued to dominate the newly regulated market, showing an 8.5% increase in participation, and at 11.4 billion euros, exceeding the 10 billion euro mark for the first time in history.<\/p>\n

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Gambling online has yet to reach such heights. According to reports published by ARJEL earlier this year, the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) for poker is 314 million euros (+12%), 243 million euros (50%) for horse betting and 115 million (-17%) for sports betting. What these figures show is that while profits in the two years since online gambling’s legalization in France show promise, they have a long way to go.<\/p>\n

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What is ARJEL?<\/h2>\n

ARJEL is an acronym for the Autorit\u00e9 de r\u00e9gulation des jeux en ligne (English translation: Authority for Online Games). It is an independent administrative authority established by the French Gambling Act in May of 2012 to license and regulate all of the country’s online gambling activities.<\/p>\n

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It has several objectives, including but not limited to:<\/p>\n

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