Gambling addiction help in France

Verified helplines

Helplines and online chat

Joueurs Info Service is the national gambling line: 09 74 75 13 13, open 8:00 to 02:00 seven days a week, anonymous, and charged at an ordinary (non-premium) call rate. Its chat service runs Monday to Friday 14:00–24:00 and 14:00–20:00 at weekends. The line is for people who gamble and for the people around them, and you do not have to give your name.

The service also publishes a directory of local addiction centres, which is the fastest way to find a CSAPA near you without going through a GP first. Its website is joueurs-info-service.fr.

Self-exclusion

France has a national gambling ban register run by the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ). It is called the interdiction volontaire de jeux, and it is the strongest of the three tools available.

According to the ANJ, the ban blocks access to physical casinos and gaming clubs, to ANJ-licensed online sports betting, horse-race betting and poker sites, and to FDJ and PMU games played through a player account. You apply online at interdictiondejeux.anj.fr; the ANJ says the form takes "environ 15 minutes", requires a copy of a valid passport, national ID card or residence permit, and an identity check with a live selfie, and that the ban "sera effective en quelques jours". A postal route with downloadable forms also exists, so a police station visit is no longer needed.

Duration is the part people get wrong. The ANJ states the ban is "valable pour une durée de trois ans minimum, renouvelable tacitement" and that "il n'est donc pas possible d'interrompre cette mesure de protection contre le jeu excessif pendant les 3 premières années". From the end of the third year it renews by itself: without action from you, you stay banned. Lifting it is a separate request (demande de levée d'interdiction) that can only be made after those three years.

The three French tools compared

If you are choosing between them, the auto-exclusion is the one you can start tonight from inside a betting account; the ANJ register is the one that closes the whole legal market at once. How other countries handle the same problem is set out in self-exclusion by country.

Blocking gambling payments and sites

There is no national bank-level gambling block in France. When asked what to do if a relative has used your bank card to gamble, the ANJ's answer is to "prévenez votre banque afin qu'elle prenne les mesures nécessaires et notamment bloquer de futurs prélèvements" — tell your bank so it can block future debits — and to inform the gambling operator that your payment method was used without your knowledge. Whether your bank can flag gambling merchants on the card itself depends on the bank, so ask them directly rather than assuming the option exists.

Blocking software is a separate layer from the ANJ register, and the two do different jobs: the register stops licensed operators from letting you in, while blocking software stops your device from reaching gambling sites at all, including unlicensed ones. Options are compared in blocking apps for iOS and Android.

The ANJ also runs Evalujeu.fr, a public site with a self-assessment of your own gambling and an explanation of the voluntary ban. Zona Bet's own self-test is another starting point if you want something in English.

Free treatment and counselling

Treatment for gambling problems in France is free. The public health insurance service Ameli describes CSAPA (centres de soins, d'accompagnement et de prévention en addictologie) as present in every French department and states that "ils accueillent, gratuitement et de façon anonyme, toute personne" — free and anonymous, including for a behavioural addiction such as gambling rather than a substance.

For people aged roughly 12 to 25 and their families, Consultations Jeunes Consommateurs sit inside or alongside CSAPA and are described by Ameli as "gratuites et confidentielles". Hospital addictology departments handle the heavier end: short admissions and follow-up in specialised units.

The practical route is short. Call Joueurs Info Service, ask for the CSAPA nearest you, and book directly — no GP referral or private payment is required to be seen.

Support for family and friends

Joueurs Info Service takes calls from partners, parents and friends on the same number, and Ameli states that CSAPA receive not only the person with the addiction but "ainsi que ses proches". That matters practically: you can book an appointment for yourself even if the person gambling refuses to go.

The ANJ's own guidance to relatives is to act quickly — contact the bank, tell the operator if a payment method was used without consent, and use Evalujeu.fr for next steps. On the money side, sorting out who is liable for which debt comes before any repayment plan; see what to do about gambling debt and how to help someone who gambles.

Gambling law and the regulator

The Autorité nationale des jeux regulates gambling in France: it licenses operators, supervises them, and runs the voluntary ban register. Its licensed online categories are sports betting, horse-race betting and poker — the same three the ban register lists as the online gambling it blocks. Online casino games such as roulette, blackjack and slots are not among the categories the ANJ licenses, so a site offering them to players in France is operating outside the licensed market and outside the protections that come with it.

Gambling is barred to minors: the ANJ states plainly that "la vente de jeux d'argent et de hasard aux mineurs n'est pas autorisée en France", which covers scratchcards and draw games sold in tobacconists as well as betting and casinos.