Rumoured French gambling tax hike not included in legislation

Speculation that France would hike its gaming tax has been proven wrong after the rumoured amendments did not appear in draft legislation.

The 2025 Social Security Financing Bill was tabled in the National Assembly on 10 October, without including an effective hike in the country’s various gaming taxes.

It follows French financial publication Les Echos reporting earlier in the month the bill would include a plan to harmonise the social security contributions paid by the various types of gambling.

The contributions, which vary widely, sit on top of an additional patchwork of differing gross gaming tax rates, mean gambling in France is subject to an approximate 60% GGR tax.

This means France already has the highest gaming taxes of any licensed market in Europe.

An increase in social security payments would have pushed this up even further, especially in certain areas such as sports betting and horse racing betting.

Both these gambling types are areas where French lottery giant Francais de Jeux (FDJ) is especially active following recent acquisitions. The speculation resulted in a dip of around 10% in the company’s share price.

French tax hike still possible

However, the fact that the tax increase was not included in the budget does not mean that it will not rise in future.

This week, chair of the National Gambling Authority (ANJ) Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin told Les Echos that raising the gambling tax would not be wrong.

She said: “The gambling market is legal only by exception, these are not ordinary services. So taxing this market in a severe budgetary impasse and in the name of public health issues does not seem illegitimate.”

Falque-Pierrotin also raised concerns any boost to the tax rate would result in additional market consolidation, and said the ANJ’s finance team are attempting to model the impact of any tax increase.

The newspaper also speculated the gaming tax amendments could be included in the bill during the legislative process.

Listed UK gaming companies saw share price hits when the market opened this morning after a Guardian report the government intended to sharply raise gaming taxes.

This followed other tax rises in the Netherlands and Sweden, which are increasing their rates to 22% and 37.8% respectively.

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