Online sports betting during the Olympics and Paralympics
You are travelling to France for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. You wonder if you should place a bet on certain competitions, for the chance of winning big? There are plenty of websites where you can place your bets, but be careful! Not all of them comply with the regulations, and you risk losing money if you use illegal sites. Here are some useful information and advice to avoid getting caught off guard!
Please note that the rules and advice apply to anyone playing from France, on a website targeting consumers in France and who has registered an account as a player residing in France.
Only adults can create an account and bet online. Emancipated minors and people under a betting ban cannot bet online.
The operators are liable, they have to verify the identity of the players and make sure no minors can bet on their websites.
Athletes and arbitrators have to check with their federations if it’s possible for them to gamble and under what conditions.
A voluntary prohibition of games prohibits you from accessing an approved online gaming site, for a minimum of three years.
After this period, you may request t o lift the ban. More information: Prohibition of gambling | Service-Public.fr
The operator has to verify that the players are not under a ban to play every time the players create an account and every time the players log in to their account.
In France, only sports and horse betting and specific ring games (i.e. poker) are authorised. French authorities forbid to bet on e-sport.
When it comes to sport, players can only bet on sports which are part of the « sport list ». The National Gambling Authority (Autorité Nationale des Jeux – ANJ) regularly updates this list.
Around 40 disciplines of the Olympic and Paralympic Games are part of the “sport list”. However, 20% of the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines are not on it, such as dance, surf, or skateboard. Therefore, it is not possible for players to bet on those sports. You can consult the full sport list.
The type of bets can be different, depending on the sport you gamble on. Each sport has a type of bet that players can place (i.e. for badminton, players can bet on the score match and set, for table tennis players can do the same but they can also bet on the rank at the end of the competition, which is not the case in badminton).
You can consult the list with the types of bets.
In France, the ANJ has to approve all online gaming and sports betting operators.
This approval, valid for 5 years, means that the operator respects specifications (i.e. the operator has to justify their capacity to control the identity of every player, to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism).
Once they approve the operator, they have to create a French website with a « .fr » domain name extension. French players and people who play from France will be automatically directed on this website, even if they initially visited a website with a different domain name extension.
This rerouting does not therefore contravene the rules against geo-blocking within the European Union.
The ANJ provides a list of approved online operators on its website. Check the list to make sure that you are playing on a legal website.
In order to gamble, players have to create an online account. For the account to be valid players have to give some information:
- name, date of birth/age;
- address;
- bank information to be able to retrieve their gains.
Then the operator must validate the account. Therefore, players have to provide justifications of their situation. Players have 30 days to provide a copy of their passport or identity card or residence permit and a justification of their address.
If they haven’t transmitted their documents by the end of this period, the operator closes the account.
Players can already bet during these 30 days, but their account will remain provisional until the file is complete. Be careful, if you gamble while your account is still provisional, you cannot receive your winnings until you have sent the requested documents to the operator.
If you don’t send to the operator the requested justifications within the 60 days, the operator can close the account and set it aside.
If you wish to retrieve it, you will have to send the required justifications to the operator.
After 6 years it is no longer possible to retrieve the credit balance of your account.
The player must play himself. In France there is a prohibition on providing advice on online sports betting for a fee (e.g. a subscription).
There is also a ban for influencers to promote subscriptions to sport tips or predictions.
So be careful: if you come across the profile of such an influencer, don’t follow his or her advice but report at least the influencer in question to the social network concerned. You should also report the influencer to the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer protection and Fraud control by using the online reporting platform SignalConso.
No, the right of withdrawal doesn’t apply. Online sports betting is a leisure service provided on a specific date, which the right of withdrawal doesn’t cover.
Therefore, once the website validates a sports bet, it is final and you cannot exercise any right of withdrawal to cancel the bet and get your money back.
You must always be able on betting websites to set limits on the amounts deposited and wagered.
You can check your level of addiction and find tips on the website www.evalujeu.fr, which the ANJ manages.
If you need help, you can also contact specialised associations:
- Joueur Info Service: +33 (0)9 74 75 13 13 (anonymous, toll-free call from France)
- SOS Joueurs : +33 (0)9 69 39 55 12
Alternatively, you can request to register on a self-exclusion list. You can do this online on the website of the ANJ, or by sending a letter to this authority. The registration is valid for a period of 3 years and continues until the request for prohibition is lifted.
Consequently, you won’t have access to authorized online betting websites in France for at least 3 years.
If you want to protect a loved one in this situation, you may report the situation to the ANJ. However, the person concerned must initiate the procedure themselves for the ban to be put in place (except in the case of guardianship).
More information on bans in our question Can someone receive a ban from betting?
If you bet on an illegal website, we advise you to contact the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer protection and Fraud control by using the online reporting platform SignalConso, and to report the website to the ANJ.
These organisations will not be able to assist you individually. However, your report may help them to investigate the site in question.
Betting on an illegal website represents major risks of all kinds: lack of security regarding your personal data and possible identity theft, risks of scam, unauthorised debits as you communicate your bank details. There are also risks of rigged games and major losses, as the ANJ neither checks nor approves these gaming softwares.
You may fear identity theft if you have sent a copy of your identity document to an illegal site. We advise you at the very least to lodge a complaint with the police and, if possible, ask for your identity document to be renewed.
In the event of fraudulent debits, consult our article about credit/debit card fraud.
In case of a dispute with an operator approved by the ANJ, you should first address your claim to the operator’s customer service. If you receive no answer or an unsatisfactory answer to your request within the following 20 days, you can contact the French gambling ombudsman (Médiateur des jeux).
For players who live in France and have a dispute with a European operator, they can contact our services.
But if you live in another European country and are encountering a problem with an online betting site in France, please contact your local European Consumer Centre.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
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