The proposal makes people shudder. The Government presented this weekend an amendment that provides for the authorization of online casinos within the framework of the 2025 budget project, whose examination opened this Monday, October 21 in the National Assembly.
“This opening arises from the adaptation of the gaming framework to that of our main European neighbors, with France, together with Cyprus, being the only country in the European Union that prohibits online casino games,” indicates the text of this amendment presented on Saturday.
“This ban has been accompanied by the development of a significant illegal supply in recent years. According to the study commissioned at the end of 2023 by the National Gaming Authority, the gross gaming product generated by the illegal offer of online gambling in France would be. between 748 million and 1,500 million euros, or between 5% and 11% of the total gaming market,” he recalls.
In this way, the Government aims to “limit the impact on public health of online gaming consumers” and “control this constantly growing supply of games.” “This authorization must be accompanied by specific regulations that are proposed to be defined, in collaboration with the National Gaming Authority and all interested parties, through an ordinance,” the amendment specifies.
An “irresponsible” amendment
Despite this promise of supervision, several associations are already speaking out against this measure. The Addiction Federation, a network of addiction associations and professionals, denounced an “irresponsible” amendment in a press release on Tuesday. Its president, Catherine Delorme, stated that “online casinos combine all the risk factors for addiction (high frequency of betting, speed of results, solitary, continuous and rapid risk-taking, etc.).”
The Addictions France association also calls for “the greatest vigilance.” Morgane Merat, head of public policy at the association, denounces a “particularly problematic measure in terms of addiction among young players.” He considers it especially dangerous to provide access to slot machines, which are “particularly addictive.”
Slot machines “present a risk of addiction because they are games with immediate results,” which “encourages the player to play multiple games,” according to the player information service’s official website. This service dependent on Public Health France also emphasizes that “small prizes and ‘quasi-prizes’ (that is, having an ‘almost’ winning combination) are numerous in slot machines and encourage the player to continue playing.”
“What is risky is being able to play at any time, Internet systems constantly reactivate players, with the incentive of believing that they are going to win,” also warns Professor Jean-Bernard Daeppen, head of the department of medicine at the Institute addictions. Vaud University Hospital Center in Lausanne, Switzerland.
More accessible games
With the authorization of online casinos, addicts like Patrick Bendimerad fear “an expansion of the offer” of addictive games, compared to the approximately 200 physical casinos that exist in France. “People who would not have traveled” to the establishments will be able to access these games from home, emphasizes the head of the addictions department of the La Rochelle hospital group, in Charente-Maritime.
“When we create offers on gambling and in particular with the Internet, we expand accessibility and create more problem gamblers. There are not many studies, but with alcohol and tobacco we know that when we increase the accessibility and density of points. sales, we increase mortality and addiction problems,” adds Professor Jean-Bernard Daeppen.
Concern for the youngest
One category of the population is particularly at risk. In physical casinos, prohibited for those under 18, the age of players is checked upon entry, but Addictions France predicts that it will be much easier for minors to circumvent the ban online. In addition, online games and betting already target young people in their marketing campaigns, according to addicts, who warn that this category of the population is very vulnerable to addiction.
Adolescents are especially prone to “thrill-seeking and risky behavior,” explains Professor Jean-Bernard Daeppen. Furthermore, they have a brain that is still developing: “our brain will be more or less mature from the age of 23 and as long as it is not mature we will not have the tools to resist the so-called powerful tools of marketing,” warns Patricio Bendimerad.
For these reasons, and although illegal casino sites already exist today, Addictions France would like “efforts to be made to control and not to deregulate.” On behalf of the association, Morgane Merat asks for “more resources for the National Gaming Authority.” This independent administrative authority in charge of regulating sports betting and games of chance launched an information campaign two weeks ago “to remind people of the illegality and danger” of online casinos.
Source: BFM TV
