A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #365 - Politics - Sports Betting and Gambling: The Other War on the Poor (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Since its liberalization in 2010, the sports betting market has exploded 
in recent years. This success rests on one thing only: selling dreams to 
the most vulnerable populations in order to ruin them. Several studies 
and reports published this year paint a grim picture of this measure, 
from aggressive marketing to quasi-mafia practices. ---- I'm talking 
about a time that those under twenty can't possibly know... Before 2010, 
only Française des Jeux (FDJ) was authorized to organize and operate 
games of chance and gambling, including sports betting - with the 
exception of horse racing, which was managed by Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU).

Everything changed in 2010: under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, and 
after intensive lobbying by bookmakers, a law championed by Bruno Le 
Maire opened the sector to competition. While the FDJ (now privatized!) 
and the PMU retain their monopoly on physical retail outlets, the online 
market is opening up to competition in a favorable context: smartphones 
have been around for three years and are rapidly becoming widespread, 
and the 4G network is being rolled out... Welcome to the free market in 
a deeply addictive sector that derives most of its revenue from the most 
vulnerable segments of the population. What could possibly go wrong?

UNSCRUPLED
For betting companies, everything is going swimmingly: their revenues 
have skyrocketed over the past 15 years. The sector was worth EUR180 
million in 2012; by 2024, it was projected to reach almost EUR1.8 
billion[1]. The result of an aggressive strategy, which fully 
capitalized on the widespread adoption of the internet and apps, and 
succeeded in attracting more bettors, but also in getting them to spend 
more: over the same period, the average annual spending of players 
doubled, rising from EUR180 to EUR360. The practice is massive: in 
France, across all types of gambling, 24 million people gambled at least 
once in 2024, an increase of more than 10% in two years, and 350,000 
people gamble every day. Companies have shown no scruples in achieving 
this result.

Prevention is largely neglected by the government. During the 2022 FIFA 
World Cup, the Seine-Saint-Denis department itself funded public 
awareness campaigns.

Seine-Saint-Denis - The Department
The sociological profile of gamblers is clear: while scratch-off tickets 
are slightly more popular among women, sports betting is practiced by an 
overwhelming majority of men, who make up 89% of bettors-a gendered 
dynamic widely exploited by marketing. One in three is a manual laborer, 
and more than half have an education level below a high school diploma. 
These figures are even more pronounced when focusing on gamblers 
developing addictive behaviors: 35% of them are manual laborers, and 
more than 70% do not have a high school diploma.

CRIMINAL MARKETING
As early as 2010, advertisements openly targeted young men from 
working-class neighborhoods, adopting their aesthetic and sartorial 
codes and expressions. The most cynical example is probably the "All for 
Mom" advertisement broadcast by Winamax in 2021 and 2022: it shows a 
young gambler in a tracksuit winning his bet, allowing him to offer his 
mother a social boost, symbolized by a magical elevator climbing 
endlessly through increasingly luxurious apartments, before arriving at 
a plane in mid-flight. The message is clear: gambling is a real way to 
"secure Mom's future." So clear, in fact, that the French National 
Gaming Authority (ANJ) asked the company to withdraw its campaign[2], as 
its message was in direct violation of the law governing advertising for 
betting and gambling. A unique intervention so far, and one that will 
only take place a year after the campaign's launch, in an environment 
where skirting the edge of legality is the norm[3]: the ANJ (National 
Gambling Authority) has been chronically underfunded since its creation, 
employing only 8 people to oversee the entire sector.

ADDICTED FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL ONWARDS
Another prime target: young people. 72% of bettors are under 35. But the 
ideal time for addictive behavior is still to develop during 
adolescence. Gambling is, however, prohibited before the age of 18. On 
paper, at least: at the beginning of the year, the Seine-Saint-Denis 
department published a study on sports betting among 13-25 year olds in 
the 93rd district[4]- a choice of age group that is already quite 
telling! The results are alarming: in this age group, one in five men 
gambles, a figure that rises to one in four for 18-25 year olds, with 
the first bet generally taking place between the ages of 14 and 15. 75% 
of these gamblers exhibit problematic gambling behavior. It must be said 
that, on paper, the bulk of prevention efforts are supposed to be 
handled by the bookmakers themselves. The conflict of interest is 
obvious: 63% of their revenue comes from players "in a state of 
addiction or loss of control."

To delve deeper into this subject, we recommend the excellent podcast 
"Aux frontières du légal: Dealers de jeux" by Rozenn Le Saint and 
Sylvain Richard on Mediapart.
Another recent report from the association Addiction France sheds a 
harsh light on these issues[5]. It estimates that at least one in three 
advertising pieces does not comply with the recommendations of the 
French National Gaming Authority (ANJ), and that 80% of influencer 
content does not include any health message, which is mandatory. The 
social impact is devastating: one in four bettors admits to losing more 
than EUR100 per week on average. The report denounces the very idea of 
"responsible gambling," describing it as a marketing concept that 
individualizes addiction problems and creates the illusion that a 
healthy, risk-free practice is possible. In light of this, it recommends 
drastically strengthening the laws governing these practices, following 
the model of several countries such as Italy, Belgium, and Spain.

THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS
And of course, there are the few gamblers who seem to be doing quite 
well. The report points out that, in reality, only 1% win more than 
EUR1,000 per year. And those who might be too lucky for the benefit of 
the companies can quickly encounter unpleasant surprises: these 
companies do not hesitate to exclude players who win too often, prevent 
them from betting, or even freeze their winnings[6]. Whatever happens, 
the player will lose out; the very viability of these companies is at 
stake. The list of their almost mafia-like practices seems endless. 
Widely used for money laundering, they largely turn a blind eye to these 
practices, which are far too lucrative for them[7].

Let's be clear: lacking any human or social utility, the entire gambling 
and betting sector is one of the purest manifestations of capitalism. 
Its sole aim is to exploit the most vulnerable populations to enrich a 
few shareholders, leaving society to pay for the damage: a social cost 
that Addiction France estimates at over EUR15 billion per year. While 
stricter regulation is certainly desirable, the complete abolition of 
these companies and practices is what we must strive for. In the 
meantime, let's be vigilant in our living and working spaces and strive 
to protect our social class from the damage caused by this industry!

Submit

[1]"2024 Gambling and Games Market Report," French National Gambling 
Authority.

[2]"The ANJ (French National Gaming Authority) is asking Winamax to 
remove its 'All for Mom' advertisement," Anj.fr.

[3]Carine Mutatayi and Solène Malok, "Content of advertisements for 
online sports betting in France, between 2014 and 2024," OFDT, March 31, 
2025.

[4]Thomas Amadieu, "Gambling among young people in Seine-Saint-Denis," 
January 2025.

[5]"Red card: the aggressive marketing of sports betting," Addiction 
France, September 4, 2025.

[6]Latifa Oulkhouir, "Online sports betting: 'They're hunting down 
winning players,'" the Bondy Blog, June 4, 2021.

[7]Yann Philippin and Jean Letellier, "Money laundering: the Winamax 
site gets burned by gambling," Mediapart, October 2, 2022.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Paris-sportifs-et-jeux-d-argent-L-autre-guerre-aux-pauvres
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