ANJ Warns of €1.2bn World Cup Betting Risk in France
France’s Autorité Nationale des Jeux launched “Zone à risques”, a sports betting addiction prevention campaign, one week before the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Total betting stakes for the tournament could reach €1.2bn, the ANJ said, driven by the expanded match format, France’s potential progress, and higher betting intent among under-35s.
Football Volumes Set the Baseline
Football is the dominant sports betting vertical in France, at 55% of all stakes in 2025. Online football bets exceeded €6bn that year. The 2022 World Cup generated more than €900m across online and retail channels, with the France vs Argentina final alone attracting nearly €54m online.
For 2026, the ANJ projects total stakes could approach €1.2bn, though the French national team’s results will be the key variable. France had more than 5 million active betting accounts in 2025, with an average annual stake of €2,186 per account.
Bet Intent Is Up, and So Is Expected Spend
A Toluna-Harris Interactive study cited by the ANJ found that 57% of French people plan to follow the World Cup. Of those, 41% intend to place bets with operators, five percentage points above the 2022 World Cup figure and six above Euro 2024. Among under-35s, that share rises to 54%.
Notably, 30% of those who plan to bet say they expect to spend more than in previous tournaments. In 2022, only 19% said the same.
Youth Vulnerability Is the Regulator’s Central Concern
Risk awareness is high but has not translated into control. Some 83% of French people identify addiction risks tied to sports betting, according to Toluna-Harris. That figure rises to 91% among those who plan to bet during the World Cup, up 14 percentage points from 2022.
Yet 37% of regular bettors said they had already felt they were losing control of their behaviour. Among those under 25, the figure reaches 67%. One in five French people said they know someone close who has lost control of their betting, a rate that climbs to 48% among younger respondents.
Data from the Observatoire Français des Drogues et des Tendances Addictives put the share of problematic sports bettors in France at 15.3% in 2023. The most common warning signs were chasing losses, staking more than affordable amounts, and feeling guilt after gambling.
The Campaign Turns a Mandatory Ad Warning Into a Risk Signal
Created by agency LIBRE, “Zone à risques” repurposes the yellow banner that appears on French gambling advertisements and transforms it into hazard tape. The visual logic is deliberate: excessive betting moves a player from the normal zone into a danger area where loss-chasing, raised stakes, anger, and social withdrawal follow. The campaign slogan translates as: “Gambling excessively means entering a risk zone.”
To make the concept physical, the ANJ built a public installation in an urban space. Behind yellow hazard tape, a recreated living room hosted an actor who portrayed a bettor in distress throughout a live match, accumulating losses, trying to recover them, then growing visibly angry and isolated. The installation directed passers-by to Evalujeu, the French responsible gambling portal where users can assess their habits and access support.
Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, President of the ANJ, said the World Cup raises several warning indicators at once: more matches, more advertising slots, more bet opportunities, and a rising share of operator revenue from excessive gamblers. The Toluna-Harris data, she added, confirms that betting intent and expected spend are both rising, with young bettors showing the highest vulnerability.
💡TGJ Take
The ANJ is not just running a public health campaign. It is putting operators on notice before the tournament cycle begins. When 67% of under-25 bettors report having felt out of control, and 30% of prospective World Cup bettors expect to spend more than in past tournaments, that is a regulatory red flag, not a footnote. Sportsbook operators active in France should treat “Zone à risques” as a compliance signal: bonus mechanics, bet-prompt timing, and in-play advertising around France matches will face the closest scrutiny after the event. Affiliates sending traffic to French-licensed sportsbooks should review partner responsible gambling standards now, not after a post-tournament enforcement review.
