The incoming regulatory chief for the French betting industry will not shy away from further tightening of the screws on online bookmakers.
Pascal Chevremont was nominated by the French Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, to take on the presidency of the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), the National Gambling Authority, earlier this month.
The veteran civil servant made his case for candidacy to a committee of the National Assembly on 17 June. Legislators subsequently appointed him to take on the lead regulatory role for the French betting industry.
In his statement to the committee, Chevremont made it clear that he would make it a priority for the ANJ to assert its control over French betting and gaming and further clamp down on illegal activity.
“The gambling sector is rife with contradictions,” Chevremont told the committee during his confirmation hearing.
“The internal security code establishes the principle of a ban on activities, and yet they are practiced by one in two French people of gambling age, i.e. 22 million of our fellow citizens.
“A significant proportion of them are practiced illegally. The primary directive of the framework as it is established is to protect players, and yet studies show a significant number of players are minors or have become addicted to gambling.”
The new ANJ President’s commitment to curbing illegal gambling will likely be welcomed by the regulated industry across France and much of Europe.
According to one of France’s main gambling industry trade bodies, the AFJEL, the number of French consumers visiting illegal betting sites rose 35% to 5.4 million between 2020-2025.
Firm but fair oversight for French betting?
The French betting sector is one of the five biggest in Europe, alongside Italy, the UK, Germany and Spain.
As Chevremont noted during his confirmation, the French betting and gambling sector brings in some €14bn (£12.1bn) annually in gross gaming revenue.
He also noted that the industry’s growth has largely been driven by online gambling, despite France’s rate of digitalisation of 20% being “half the European average”.
While he may be on the sector’s side when it comes to clamping down on illegality, Chevremont came across as someone who is not adverse to firm oversight of the regulated sector during his hearing.
“This is a sector that is growing overall, and yet the public health objective of preventing excessive gambling leads us to consider this growth within limits that have not been defined,” he said.
Chevremont’s appointment comes amid new market entrants making their way into France, such as UK-founded and headquartered online betting giant bet365, while speculation still swirls around whether the country could one day legalise online casino activity.
For now, however, the French betting space remains one of Europe’s largest but also faces some significant restrictions.
Most notable of these is the heavy tax regime introduced last year, with levies on retail sports betting increased from 41.1% to 42.1% and on online sports betting from 54.9% to 59.3%.
The sector’s advertising practices have also faced scrutiny in recent months, including from an addiciotn campaign group and no less than prominent members of the French national football team amid their World Cup campaign.
Chevremont has identified what he believes are a number of contradictions in French betting laws and rules, and he believes there is only one answer to this – regulation.
“Its primary objective is to reduce the negative effects of gambling activities on public health and social order,” he said, adding that the French betting space requires a “committed and dynamic authority”.
Chevremont will take on leadership of the ANJ for six years, succeeding Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, who sat down for a two part interview with SBC News this month.
