France’s gambling market still skews offshore as regulated sector stays flat

New Blask data suggests France’s channelization problem is not improving: offshore iGaming brands made up 83.9% of online gambling searches between 29 September and 12 October, up from 67.5% between 7 September and 20 September. For PSPs, acquirers, and other payment firms in high-risk verticals, that is the practical signal: most demand is still flowing outside the licensed perimeter.

1. Blask’s report shows that regulated operators did not capture the same momentum. France’s licensed sector remained relatively stagnant even as offshore search interest jumped, which is a reminder that consumer demand and regulatory permission are not the same thing.
2. The legal framework does a lot of the work here. France does not permit online casino games, so that traffic goes to unregulated offshore operators. What is allowed online is narrower: sports betting, horse racing bets, and poker. That means the market’s most commercially attractive casino traffic is structurally outside the licensed stack.
3. Blask found that nine of the ten most popular operators in France were offshore. The two most popular brands were gtBet and Leon, and together they accounted for the vast majority of online gambling searches in the country. Betclic was the only licensed operator on the list, ranking 8th.
4. The Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ) continues to push against unlicensed gambling. It regularly works with internet service providers to block offending platforms, and it recently ordered ISPs to block access to Polymarket specifically. ANJ also said that advertising the platform’s services is a criminal offense, punishable by a fine of up to $114,000.
5. The regulated side is growing, but not by much. Operator revenues rose only 0.5% year-on-year in the first half of the year. Online sports wagering got a boost from the World Cup, yet offshore competition continues to apply pressure to the licensed market.

France’s enforcement record is not symbolic either. Last year, law enforcement dismantled one of the largest online gambling rings in the country’s history, a criminal enterprise focused exclusively on online gambling that made an estimated $1.2 billion. The operation even ran a YouTube channel with 900,000 subscribers. In other words: the offshore market is not just visible in search data; it is visible in enforcement files too.