Sports betting growth was concentrated in June, when the World Cup began, and acquisition bonuses nearly quadrupled, while FDJ United and PMU both lost ground.
France’s regulated gambling market barely grew in the first half of 2026, and online was the only part of it that did. The figures come from the semi-annual report the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), France’s gambling regulator, published on 15 October 2026.
Online is the only segment adding growth
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) reached €5.66 billion in H1 2026, up 0.5% year on year, according to the ANJ’s semi-annual report. Growth was 4.1% a year earlier. The figure excludes land-based casinos and gaming clubs, which the ANJ reports on once a year.
Online gambling added 2.5 percentage points to growth. The exclusive-rights businesses of FDJ United (FDJU) and PMU took away 1.2 and 0.8 points, respectively.
Online GGR rose 11% to €1.45 billion, compared with 8.2% growth in H1 2025. Online now makes up 25.6% of the market.
| Segment | GGR, H1 2026 | Change vs H1 2025 |
| FDJ United (exclusive rights in France) | €3,429m | -2% |
| Online sports betting | €995m | +11.6% |
| PMU (exclusive rights) | €782m | -5.8% |
| Online poker | €290m | +13.4% |
| Online horse racing betting | €164m | +2.8% |
| Total (excl. casinos and gaming clubs) | €5,660m | +0.5% |
Active player accounts across the three online segments reached a record 5.85 million (+24%). Unique players rose 17% to 4.06 million. Players are also spreading their activity across more operators: the average number of accounts per player rose from 1.37 to 1.44.
Sports betting growth was concentrated in June
Online sports betting stakes rose 10.6% to €6.6 billion, and GGR rose 11.6% to €995 million. The growth was concentrated in June, the month the FIFA World Cup began.
| January to May | June | |
| Stakes, year on year | +4% | +47% |
| Monthly active accounts, year on year | +2% to +11% | +69% (3.1 million) |
| Acquisition bonuses | -6% | €9.0m vs €2.4m in June 2025 |
Football stakes rose 16% over the half, including a 116% jump in June. Tennis went the other way. Its stakes rose 2% between January and May and fell 13.5% in June.
Stakes per active account fell 14% over the half, and the average bet slipped from €14.60 to €14.00.
Bonuses paid to sports bettors totalled €129 million, up 35%, or 12.9% of segment GGR against 10.7% a year earlier. June alone accounted for €35.5 million, compared with €14.5 million in June 2025. Across the whole online market, bonuses reached €199 million. Their 28% rise was 2.5 times faster than online GGR growth, and they now equal 13.8% of online GGR, up from 11.9%.
The ANJ said (translated from French):
‘The activity of these players in the second half will show whether the World Cup has lastingly widened the pool of bettors.’
Three days before the semi-annual report, a separate ANJ note on 2025 online sports betting linked niche football leagues to excessive bettors.
Poker and horse racing grew more steadily
Online poker GGR rose 13.4% to €290 million, after a flat H1 2025 (-0.4%). Sit & Go tournaments generated 70% of it (€202 million). Active poker accounts climbed 38.5% to 2.3 million, but GGR per account fell 18%, from €153 to €126. Poker players now make up 44% of all online unique players, up from 38%.
Online horse racing stakes rose 15.8% to €920 million, their strongest increase since 2021, with no peak in June. GGR grew more slowly, by 2.8% to €164 million. Unique players rose only 3.2%, so the ANJ said the increase came mainly from more betting per player.
FDJ United and PMU lose ground
GGR from FDJ United’s exclusive-rights activities in France fell 2% to €3.43 billion. Lottery accounted for €64 million of the €69 million drop, with draw games down 7.6%.
FDJ United, quoted in the ANJ report, said (translated from French) the decline resulted from ‘the number and levels of high EuroMillions jackpots being significantly lower than in 2025’. The operator also cited lower footfall at retail outlets during heatwaves in the second quarter. Excluding long EuroMillions cycles, when the jackpot exceeds €75 million, lottery GGR rose 1%, according to the operator. Retail sports betting GGR fell 1.1% to €450 million.
At group level, FDJ United’s GGR fell 1.3% to €4.31 billion. The group went from a €136 million net profit to a €16 million net loss. The ANJ, citing FDJ United’s half-year report, said the loss reflects €135 million of impairments on online betting and gaming assets, linked to regulatory changes in the Netherlands, the UK, and Romania, plus a €20 million exceptional contribution on large companies’ profits.
PMU’s exclusive-rights business declined for the third year in a row. Stakes fell 3.8% to €3.1 billion and GGR fell 5.8% to €782 million, a steeper drop than the 2.6% decline in H1 2025. The ANJ said the gap between the two appears to be partly linked to PMU raising the return to player on its retail Simple bet from 83.6% to 84.6% in October 2025.
PMU’s market share fell to 13.8%. Online sports betting, which overtook PMU in H1 2025, is now 3.8 points ahead.
The ANJ described 2026 as a transition year for PMU, which is working on a plan called ‘Pacte PMU 2030’. Cyrille Giraudat became chief executive in January 2026, and Éric Woerth was appointed chair of the board on 30 March 2026. PMU’s 2026 budget allocates €725 million to the horse racing industry, down from €802 million in 2025.
What comes next
FDJ United generates 61% of GGR excluding casinos and gaming clubs, and has said it is aiming for stable GGR from its French network in 2026.
The online market enters the second half with a record 5.85 million active accounts, and the World Cup ran until its final on 19 July. According to the ANJ, the online market’s full-year growth will depend on whether those players keep betting after the tournament.
