The French National Gaming Authority announced this Wednesday the preliminary results of a new algorithm, revealing a striking revenue structure in the online gambling market—during the second half of 2025, about 600,000 players identified by the algorithm as having a high probability of excessive gambling, accounting for only 8.7% of the online betting population, contributed approximately 1.2 billion euros in gross gambling revenue, representing 60% of the total online gambling revenue in France. This tool, developed independently by ANJ, uses continuous account-level gambling data obtained directly from licensed operators and applies 23 indicators refined from scientific literature—covering financial transaction patterns, use of gambling control tools, frequency and intensity of gambling, and gambling history of players—to classify players into four categories: recreational, medium risk, excessive, and extremely excessive. ANJ Chair Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin described this algorithm as a decisive step taken by the regulatory body and emphasized that operators must immediately start identifying the approximately 300,000 players categorized as extremely excessive.
Algorithm identifies 300,000 extremely excessive players, operators only report 89,000
When ANJ announced the results of the algorithm, it highlighted a stark contrast in data: although operators have made progress in identifying excessive gamblers—from 31,000 in 2024 to 89,000 in 2025—this is still far below the scale estimated by the algorithm, revealing a sharp gap between algorithm estimates and demographic survey data. The French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction estimated in 2024 that about 1.17 million people in France exhibited problematic gambling behavior, with approximately 360,000 classified as excessive gamblers. ANJ has made this algorithm optionally available to operators, positioning it as a compliance barometer for operators to assess their own identification effectiveness.
This algorithm has been confirmed as the first of its kind in Europe, independently validated by the internationally recognized Canadian Problem Gambling Index and approved by an independent scientific committee. ANJ also admits that the algorithm does not provide an epidemiological research-comparable precision prevalence measurement but serves as a benchmark tool for regulatory supervision and trend monitoring. Looking ahead, regulatory bodies expect operators to significantly strengthen identification and intervention efforts driven by the algorithm.
PASA official website continues to track the latest developments in global gambling regulatory technology and data governance, noting that the French ANJ's algorithm, which transforms continuous account-level gambling data into quantifiable risk classifications, is providing a highly influential technical reference for European gambling regulators transitioning from passive compliance monitoring to proactive data-driven player protection.
————
This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
Original in-depth gambling channel: https://t.me/gamblingdeep
Free data reports: @pasa_research
PASA Matrix: @pasa002_bot
PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
