Betsson France Wins ANJ Licence To Launch Online Poker
Betsson France has been granted an online poker licence by France's gambling regulator, the Autorite nationale des jeux (ANJ), adding poker to the online casino it already runs in the market. The company becomes the ninth operator on the ANJ's list of licensed poker providers, according to a report from European Gaming.
The ANJ board adopted two decisions on 15 October 2026, and both were published in the Journal officiel of 23 October. Decision 2026-171 grants Betsson France an online poker licence under reference 0061-PO-2026-10-15-AGR-00. The licence runs for five years from 15 October 2026, is renewable but cannot be transferred, and the poker offer must be delivered through the betsson.fr domain.
Decision 2026-172 covers shared liquidity under reference 0061-PO-LIQU-2026-10-15. It allows Betsson France to seat account holders at online poker tables shared with players in other regulated markets.
The permission is conditional: every gambling regulator involved has to agree to the arrangement, the software used for shared tables has to be approved, and Betsson France must tell the ANJ about any change, including a new party joining the liquidity-sharing contract or the contract being terminated.
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What Betsson France Must Do Before Launch
The licence decision sets out several obligations before and after go-live. Before starting activity, Betsson France has to notify the ANJ that its data archiving system is operating, a requirement set out in the 2010 online gambling law and the decree implementing it.
The decision also reminds the licensee of its duty to have its systems certified by an independent body and to cover the cost of that certification. No launch date has been announced in the published decisions.
European Gaming reports that the shared tables fall under the 2017 agreement on shared poker liquidity between the regulators of France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, so liquidity pooling with those markets would also depend on each regulator signing off and the software being approved.
A Crowded French Poker Licence List
Betsson France applied for the poker licence in June and has held a French fixed-odds sports betting licence since September 2023, European Gaming reports. The ANJ's list of licensed operators, dated 15 October 2026 and published in the same Journal officiel issue, shows nine poker licence holders.
They are: B.E.S. SAS, Betclic Enterprises Limited, Betsson France SA, FDJ Online Betting and Gaming France, Hillside (New Media Malta) PLC, La Française des Jeux, Pari Mutuel Urbain, Reel Malta Limited and Winamax. The same list shows Betsson France SA holding two licences, one for sports betting and one for poker, and none for horse racing betting.
France's regulated online market remains limited to sports and horse racing betting and poker, with online casino games outside the legal framework, which is why poker is one of the few ways for a licensed operator to widen its product range there.
Players looking for a licensed operator can check the ANJ's published list, which is the definitive record of who is authorised to offer poker in France. Readers should also play responsibly and use the self-exclusion and limit tools every licensed operator is required to provide.
