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Unauthorised and illegal online casino websites are mimicking French land-based casino brands on Facebook to divert players to their websites, France’s National Gambling Authority (ANJ) has said.
Since November, illegal online casinos have been creating hundreds of fake accounts and using photographs of two of the country’s largest casino chains, Barriere and JOA Group, the ANJ said on Tuesday (January 30).
Links would direct players to download applications on Google Play and Apple Store, where they would be directed to the illegal sites, the regulator said.
The ANJ said it wanted to remind players that online casinos are illegal in France. France only has 18 approved online sports-betting operators, and six companies approved for online poker.
The regulator said it reported about 400 URLs to Facebook parent Meta, which removed about 137 unauthorised websites.
In December, the ANJ said its surveys suggested that illegal websites generate €750m to €1.5bn in gross gaming revenue annually, or up to about half of the total online gambling market.
The PwC study found about 510 illegal websites targeting French players.
The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) urged France to approve online casinos, saying that half the illegal market is online casinos.
In Europe, only Cyprus also completely bans online casinos, according to the EGBA.
