The organization’s latest statement forcefully rejects proposals for legalizing online gambling, cautioning that the move would inflict massive financial damage on public finances and local communities across the country.
This strong opposition follows increasing calls from the online gaming industry to regulate the digital casino market, which they claim could generate significant tax revenue. However, land-based operators argue fiercely against this claim, presenting new statistics to government officials.
Financial Fallout: Calculating Heavy Losses from Legalizing Online Gambling
Casinos de France, which represents the nation’s 203 casinos and seven Parisian gaming clubs, released detailed financial modeling challenging the notion of a revenue windfall.
They instead project a net annual loss of an estimated €546 million to public finances, encompassing indirect costs related to health and employment. Notably, this figure directly counters the €1.2 billion in “lost revenue” often cited by the online gambling lobby, which land-based operators dismiss as a “hoax.”
Grégory Rabuel, President of Casinos de France and CEO of Barrière Group, asserted the gravity of the situation. “Destruction of local jobs, reduction of municipal budgets, the withering away of cultural life in towns and villages. I’m not even mentioning the impact on the mental health of the French,” Rabuel stated, clearly laying out the full scope of the expected harm.
Job Security and Local Budgets Threatened by Online Competition
The core concern for the association remains the severe impact on land-based employment and local municipal funding. Land-based casinos currently employ over 31,000 people and contribute more than €600 million each year to local municipalities—funds crucial for local services.
Additionally, the entire segment generates approximately €1.6 billion in tax and social security revenue annually. Meanwhile, critics of legalization warn that an online shift would not expand the market but merely capture existing customers, devastating the established sector.
The association points to other regulated European markets as cautionary tales. In Sweden, for example, land-based casinos have disappeared since online competition arrived, and reports show that a substantial portion of wagers still occur on illegal sites.
Consequently, Casinos de France insists regulation fails to solve the black market problem while simultaneously crippling the legal, land-based sector.
According to World Casino News, the group continues to press the government to recognize the social and economic contributions of physical casinos before enacting policy changes that could lead to “massive” job losses.
However, proponents of legalization, including the online gambling association AFJEL, maintain that a strictly regulated online market offers the best way to curb the rising illegal online activity, which one study estimates draws 5.4 million French players. The government must now carefully weigh the potential for increased tax revenue against the immediate, tangible losses warned by the French land-based casino industry as the debate over legalizing online gambling intensifies.
