Betsson France can now offer online poker in France, and its tables can be shared with players in Italy, Spain and Portugal. CasinoBeats reports that both the licence and the liquidity clearance were published in the Journal officiel on 23 October 2026, alongside the regulator's operator list dated 15 October. The licence is for five years, cannot be transferred, and the poker offer must run on betsson.fr. Launch is not yet live: before going live, Betsson France must confirm to the ANJ that its data archiving system is running.
The shared pool rests on a 2017 agreement between France's ANJ, Spain's DGOJ, Italy's ADM and Portugal's SRIJ. Shared tables need the agreement of every regulator involved and approved software. A separate decision dated 16 October approved Betsson France's poker platform. Betsson plans to launch on Playtech's iPoker network. Its partner, Casino Secret founder Nadir Ounissi, called the licence an important milestone. Betsson says the move concerns the French poker market as it exists, not a bet on France legalising online casino.
Poker is the growing part of a flat market. Gross gaming revenue across French gambling, excluding casinos and gaming clubs, was €5.66bn in the first half of 2026, up 0.5%. Sit & Go tournaments brought in €202m, or 70% of poker revenue in that period. Spending per active account fell to €126 in the first half from €153 a year earlier, according to European Gaming. In 2025, active poker accounts reached 2.5 million, up 16.5%.
Analysis: the licence widens the number of operators competing for a player base that is growing but spending less per head. The open question is whether a new entrant mainly adds players to the market or mainly takes a share of existing ones. Shared liquidity may help small tables, but it does not by itself change how much each player spends. The second-half figures for per-account revenue, and the date Betsson actually goes live, will show which of those effects is stronger.
This file draws on a public report from CasinoBeats. Its source type is industry; we label this story reported. Analysis and reported claims are not independent confirmation.
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