Top Gambling Sites in France

Online gambling in France is 100% legal, but it is one of the most regulated markets in the world. When you hear regulation, you might think bad, but what comes with regulation is a lot more reputable and trusted gambling sites to choose from. Instead of it being the wild west, you have protections from the government and other agencies that you wouldn’t get in other parts of the world.

If you’re living in France (or visiting) and want to start betting today, check out the list of the top French gambling sites we’ve listed for you below. These gambling sites not only accept French players, but they offer some of the best online casino experiences possible.

Rank	Exclusive Bonus	Get Started
#1	250% Up To $5,000	Visit Site	Wild Casino
#2	280% Up To $14,000	Visit Site	Las Atlantis
#3	50% Up To $250	Visit Site	Bovada
#4	125% Up To $2,500	Visit Site	BetUS
#5	60% Up To $1,000	Visit Site	BetOnline

Why Choose a Country Specific Gambling Site

Due to the tight restrictions on gambling in France, the number of sites you have to choose from is limited. In other countries where laws are more laxed, the problem that gamblers run into is too many options and trying to decide which is perfect for you. While there are fewer options for French gamblers, you do still have some quality choices.

But, you can’t just go to Google and pick out the first site that you see because chances are they probably don’t service the French market. To help you out in this search, we’ve created this guide dedicated to gambling in France. The sites that we’ve recommended are some of the best gambling sites in France and the world, and they specifically cater to French players.

They offer their websites in French (not just using Google translate, but actually written for French people), allow you to play in multiple currencies if you wish, and offer the games and sports action that French bettors desire. It’s a big decision for an online casino or gambling site to enter the French market due to the legislation and restrictions. So, when they do decide to come in, they want to make sure that they are offering you the best service possible. Otherwise, they would just choose to play somewhere else.

Gambling in France

When something generates well over 300 million in tax revenue in just one year, you can imagine that the government is going to be a big fan. As this stat is from way back in 2013 (the most recent we had access to) and the industry has done nothing but grow in France since then, you can imagine that the money the government is bringing in today is massive.

On the brick and mortar side of things, gambling is big in France. There are over 160 licensed casinos in France with the biggest collection being located in Paris. If you’ve ever been to a casino in France, you know that most of them are extremely luxurious and often require you to dress up just to get into the door. If you don’t like putting on a coat and tie or a nice dress, this is all the more reason to look into playing online where you can happily play in your underwear or whatever you fancy wearing.

Online gambling in France is heavily regulated which does anger some players. Because of the higher regulation and taxes, you’ll often see higher rake on games at licensed French sites. Additionally, according to the 2010 French Gambling Act, games of skill including horse racing, sports betting, and poker were legalized. But, this also meant that games of chance were not allowed to be played at regulated and licensed French site. This has driven a lot of players to unlicensed sites that still choose to operate within the French borders.

Many online gambling sites have also created French-only versions of their sites. These are sites that are not available to the rest of the world but are only available to French players residing in France. The most popular area that you see this is with online poker sites.

For example, online poker giant Pokerstars offers a French-only version of their site. While this seems like no big deal, you are locked off from the rest of the world player pool. This means that when playing on this site, you will only be playing with French players. This might be a good or a bad thing depending on your opinion of your fellow countrymen’s ability to play cards well. The one thing that is for sure, though, is that the prize pools and the action available are smaller because of this

Due to the large amounts of money generated by online gambling sites, we do expect the French government to revisit some of these laws in the near future and look to expand what is allowed on French regulated sites. As French players are still able to get their action from unregulated sites, the French government can either pretend it’s not happening or acknowledge it, allow it on their regulated sites and take their cut. In our opinion, the right move here is simple, but sometimes the government moves at their own pace and doesn’t realize the obvious as quickly as we’d like for them to.

Getting Started Now

For those of you living in France that are ready to get into the action, it’s still an easy process despite the heavy regulations which mainly affect the operators and not the customers. To get started, check out one of the French gambling sites we’ve recommended at the top of the page. Most of these sites will allow you to try out all the games and services completely free. If you decide that you want to start playing for real money, it’s simple to load money onto the site and start playing. You’re only minutes away from gambling online in France from right where you’re sitting without ever having to put on a coat and tie or a dress.