Posted on: May 15, 2026, 06:09h.
Last updated on: May 15, 2026, 06:09h.
- French regulator links most online gambling revenue to high-risk players
- ANJ algorithm identified 600,000 potentially excessive gamblers during 2025
- Findings intensify scrutiny of gambling industry profit concentration models
New data from France’s gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), suggests that around 60% of online gambling revenue in the country comes from people showing signs of excessive gambling.
A new risk-scoring algorithm identified about 600,000 account-based gamblers with a high probability of excessive play in the second half of 2025. According to ANJ, that group represented 8.7% of all account-based players covered by the regulator and generated €1.2 billion in gross gaming revenue, equal to 60% of the total for the monitored market.
The findings appear to support the claim by critics of the gambling industry that a disproportionate portion of its revenues are generated by a relatively small number of customers who may be experiencing harm or loss of control. It also challenges arguments that most revenue comes from recreational users.
Risk Detection Tool
ANJ says the tool is not designed to measure prevalence in the way a population survey would and so it doesn’t mean France has 600,000 clinically diagnosed gambling addicts.
But it provides a market-wide benchmark for the regulator to judge whether companies are meeting their legal duties to identify and support vulnerable customers.
The algorithm was built from continuous account-level data supplied by licensed online operators, plus account-based activity at FDJ and PMU, ANJ said.
It uses 23 risk indicators including financial movements, use of gambling limits and moderation tools, frequency and intensity of play, and player history. Each player receives a score and is placed into one of four categories: recreational, moderate risk, excessive, or manifestly excessive.
300,000 ‘Serious Risk’
Roughly 300,000 players fell into the most serious “manifestly excessive” group in the second half of 2025, according to ANJ. The regulator said those players should be prioritized for intervention. It also said the overall number of excessive players is rising faster than the number of players, while their share of operator revenue has been climbing steadily since 2023.
The model was developed from 2024 and presented to operators in 2025, according to ANJ. Its performance was assessed against the Canadian Problem Gambling Index, with oversight from a scientific committee. ANJ also said similar work is under way in Spain and the Netherlands but described its own model as the first such tool available in Europe.
The ANJ said that operators have become better at identifying excessive gamblers, flagging 89,000 in 2025 compared with 31,000 the year prior, but this falls far below the numbers suggested by the algorithm.
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