French Guiana (Guyane) is an overseas department and region of France on the north-east coast of South America, bordered by Brazil and Suriname. Because it is an integral part of France, French gambling law applies there in the same way as in mainland France. Gambling is prohibited in principle, with exceptions set by statute: land-based casinos authorised by the Minister of the Interior, the lottery and retail sports betting run by FDJ under exclusive rights, off-course horse-race betting through PMU, and online sports betting, horse-race betting and poker offered by operators approved by the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ). Online casino games such as slots and roulette cannot be lawfully offered anywhere in France. For many years French Guiana was one of only two French regions without a casino; a first casino project in Cayenne was under construction in 2024–2026. This guide explains the legal position, the regulator, the treatment of players, taxation and the available support services.
Key points
- French Guiana is governed by Article 73 of the French Constitution, under which national laws apply by default. The Code de la sécurité intérieure (Internal Security Code) and Law No. 2010-476 of 12 May 2010 on online gambling therefore apply there.
- Gambling is prohibited in principle (Article L320-1 of the Internal Security Code), subject to statutory exceptions for casinos, the FDJ lottery, PMU horse-race betting and ANJ-approved online betting and poker.
- Online casino games are not authorised in France. A government attempt to legalise them in the 2025 budget was withdrawn, and as of mid-2026 no bill to do so had been adopted.
- The ANJ can order internet providers and search engines to block or delist illegal gambling sites; in 2024 it issued 232 orders covering 1,337 URLs.
- Casino authorisations are granted by the Minister of the Interior. The law lists towns and resorts classed for tourism in Guiana as eligible locations; a casino in Cayenne, first reported as due to open in September 2026, was announced in October 2026 as opening on 5 November 2026.
- Gambling winnings are generally not subject to income tax for players. Operators pay levies on gross gaming revenue that were increased from 1 July 2025.
Last reviewed: 14 October 2026.
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Historical development
French Guiana’s institutions were reorganised after two referendums in January 2010. According to a 2020 Senate information report, voters on 10 January 2010 rejected a move to the more autonomous status under Article 74 of the Constitution, with 70.22% voting against, and on 24 January 2010 approved, by 57.49%, the creation of a single authority. Law No. 2011-884 of 27 July 2011 created the Collectivité territoriale de Guyane (CTG), which was set up on 1 January 2016 and exercises the powers of both the former department and the former region.
French gambling law rests on a long-standing principle of prohibition. A 2023 Senate committee report traces the prohibition of lotteries back to a law of 1836 (Senate, report No. 584, 2022–2023). Parliament later carved out exceptions for casinos, a national lottery and pari-mutuel horse-race betting, which have applied in French Guiana as part of the national territory. A 1997 written parliamentary question refers to a Française des Jeux report showing that in 1994 its games enabled the national sport development fund to provide more than 8 million francs to the Antilles and Guiana (National Assembly, written question No. 47100).
Despite these openings, French Guiana long had no casino. A 2018 report noted that “la Guyane et Mayotte sont les deux régions françaises à ne pas disposer de casinos” (French Guiana and Mayotte are the two French regions without casinos), at a time when the City of Cayenne was preparing a site for a casino to be run under a twenty-year public service concession (Outremers360, 2018).
Legal framework
Application of French law in French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas department and region (département et région d’outre-mer, DROM) governed by Article 73 of the Constitution. The Senate’s 2020 report on Guiana explains that such authorities are governed “en principe par le principe de l’identité législative”: national laws and regulations apply automatically, although they may be adapted to the “caractéristiques et contraintes particulières” (particular characteristics and constraints) of the territory (Senate, report No. 337, 2019–2020). For gambling, the consequence is that the same statutes and the same regulators apply in Cayenne, Kourou or Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni as in Paris.
Key statutes
- Internal Security Code, Book III, Title II (Articles L320-1 to L324-10). This is the main body of land-based gambling law. Article L320-1 sets the principle of prohibition, quoted in the Senate’s 2023 report as “les jeux d’argent et de hasard sont prohibés” (games of money and chance are prohibited). Article L320-6 lists the exceptions. The French public gambling helpline summarises them as casinos, gaming clubs, charitable lotteries and traditional lotos, the FDJ lottery and sports betting monopoly, horse-race betting through PMU, and online betting and poker approved by the ANJ (Joueurs Info Service).
- Law No. 2010-476 of 12 May 2010 on the opening to competition and regulation of online gambling. It opened online sports betting, horse-race betting and poker to approved operators, but not other casino games.
- Ordinance No. 2019-1015 of 2 October 2019, which created the ANJ; the authority began operating in June 2020.
- Monetary and Financial Code, Article L561-2, which makes casinos, gaming clubs and gambling operators “obliged entities” for anti-money laundering purposes.
Organising or offering a game of chance outside this framework is a criminal offence. Joueurs Info Service, citing Article L322-2 of the Internal Security Code and Article 56 of the 2010 law, states that it is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of €90,000, and that “les sites Internet non agréés par l’ANJ sont illégaux” (websites not approved by the ANJ are illegal). The full consolidated texts are published on Légifrance.
Casino location rules and French Guiana
Casinos are allowed only in the categories of commune listed in Article L321-1 of the Internal Security Code. A 2023 National Assembly committee report on a casino bill summarises these as: seaside, spa or climate resorts classified before 3 March 2009; tourist resorts that are the main town of a conurbation of more than 500,000 inhabitants and co-fund a national theatre, orchestra or opera; “les villes ou stations classées de tourisme du département de la Guyane” (towns or resorts classed for tourism in the department of Guiana); communes where a casino was regularly operating on 3 March 2009; and certain communes classified as tourist resorts by 2014 (National Assembly, report No. 1873, 2023). French Guiana is therefore the only overseas department named specifically in the casino location rules.
Regulator and licensing model
France uses a mixed model: some products are reserved by law to a single operator (exclusive rights), others are open to any operator that obtains approval (licensing). French Guiana has no regulator of its own.
| Product | Who may offer it | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Draw and scratch-card lotteries | FDJ only (exclusive rights), in retail outlets and online | ANJ |
| Sports betting in retail outlets | FDJ only | ANJ |
| Horse-race betting off-course in retail outlets | PMU only | ANJ |
| Online sports betting, horse-race betting and poker | Operators approved by the ANJ | ANJ |
| Land-based casinos | Operators authorised by the Minister of the Interior in eligible communes | Ministry of the Interior (with prefecture and municipal council) |
| Online casino games (slots, roulette, blackjack) | Nobody: not authorised in France | Not applicable |
This allocation follows the ANJ’s description of game categories and distribution channels.
The Autorité nationale des jeux
The ANJ is an independent administrative authority. According to its own description, it regulates “tous les acteurs, en monopole ou en concurrence sur le marché français, tous les types de jeux autorisés” (all players, under monopoly or in competition on the French market, all authorised types of game) (ANJ). The ANJ’s list of approved operators showed, when accessed on 13 October 2026, 16 approved operators running 22 websites: 16 approved for sports betting, 5 for horse-race betting and 7 for poker (jeux de cercle). The ANJ’s blacklist page refers to 17 licensed operators; readers should treat the live register as authoritative.
The ANJ puts the French gambling market at €14.1 billion in 2025. Online gross gaming revenue (GGR), meaning stakes minus winnings paid out, totalled €2.6 billion, with 6.1 million active player accounts (ANJ, market). The ANJ does not publish a separate breakdown for French Guiana.
FDJ and PMU in French Guiana
FDJ (La Française des Jeux, whose group now publishes as FDJ United) holds statutory exclusive rights for lotteries and retail sports betting across France, and its games are sold in French Guiana as in other departments. PMU (Pari Mutuel Urbain) is the statutory body for off-course pari-mutuel betting on horse races. A 2015 press report citing PMU’s Antilles-Guyane management gave 2014 PMU revenue of €137 million in Guadeloupe, €102 million in Martinique and €23 million in French Guiana (Le Courrier de Guadeloupe, 2015). More recent official figures for Guiana could not be found.
Casino authorisation
A casino requires two decisions. First, the municipal council must give a binding opinion (avis conforme) and award a public service concession (délégation de service public), because casinos in France are run as concessions of the host commune. Second, the operator applies to the prefect; after an administrative inquiry and the prefect’s opinion, the Minister of the Interior grants or refuses the authorisation, taking into account the opinion of the advisory commission on gaming establishments (the decision can be challenged before the administrative courts) (National Assembly, progress report on bill No. 1239, 2023).
In French Guiana the only casino project identified is in Cayenne. The first stone was laid in October 2024 on a site at the junction of Route de Montabo and chemin Sadecki. The project, budgeted at about €25 million, combines a gaming room, a 640 m² performance hall and a restaurant; the mayor of Cayenne said the decision dated from 2017 and had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic (Outremers360, 2024). In May 2026 Gambling Insider reported that opening was expected in September 2026; in October 2026 the operator announced that the casino would open on 5 November 2026 (G3 Newswire, 12 October 2026). The venue is to have 100 slot machines, 20 electronic gaming positions and three tables (one English roulette and two blackjack). We could not confirm from an official source whether the casino had opened, or whether and when a ministerial gaming authorisation had been granted, by the date of this review; readers should treat the opening date as unconfirmed.
Online gambling: what is permitted and how it is enforced
Residents of French Guiana may lawfully gamble online only with FDJ (lotteries and sports betting) and with ANJ-approved operators for sports betting, horse-race betting and poker. The ANJ’s page on game categories states plainly: “Les jeux de casinos et en particulier les machines à sous en ligne ne sont pas autorisés sur le marché français” (casino games, and in particular online slot machines, are not authorised on the French market). Any website offering these games to residents of French Guiana is therefore operating illegally, whatever licence it holds elsewhere.
The ANJ’s blacklist page puts it simply: apart from the licensed operators and FDJ, “toutes les autres offres sont illégales” (all other offers are illegal). It warns that absence from the blacklist does not make a site lawful (ANJ, blacklist).
Enforcement relies mainly on blocking, meaning orders requiring internet service providers to prevent access to a website, and delisting, meaning removal from search engine results. According to the ANJ’s page on illegal gambling:
- a law of 2 March 2022 gave the ANJ’s president the power to order blocking and delisting of sites that “offrent ou font la publicité de jeux illégaux” (offer or advertise illegal games), a power previously exercised only by the courts;
- in 2024 the ANJ’s president issued 232 blocking and delisting orders covering 1,337 URLs, of which 910 were “mirror” sites set up to evade earlier blocks;
- a 2023 study for the ANJ estimated that 3 to 4 million online players had used illegal offers in the previous year.
The ANJ also expects payment providers not to serve illegal operators. Blocking orders apply to internet providers nationally, including in French Guiana.
Position of players
The sources reviewed describe criminal penalties aimed at those who organise, offer or advertise unauthorised gambling. None of the official sources we consulted, including the ANJ’s guidance and the Joueurs Info Service summary of the law, describes a penalty for a player who simply bets with an unlicensed website, and we found no record of a player in French Guiana or elsewhere in France being prosecuted for doing so. This should not be read as approval. The ANJ advises: “Ne jouez pas sur un site de jeux d’argent qui n’a pas été autorisé en France” (do not play on a gambling site that has not been authorised in France), citing the risks of addiction, identity theft and fraud.
Players on illegal sites also lose the protections of the regulated market. The ANJ’s FAQ states that neither the ANJ nor the gaming mediator can deal with a dispute with an illegal operator, and refers complainants to the consumer protection authority (DGCCRF). A 2023 analysis by Pinsent Masons cited a Court of Audit finding that 76% of online casino players were unaware that online casinos are illegal.
The ANJ lists the protection of minors among its core tasks and states that operators’ commercial policies and promotional campaigns are subject to the same requirements to protect minors (ANJ, market).
Taxation
Players
Gambling winnings are generally not subject to income tax in France, including in French Guiana. FDJ’s guidance states that lottery and betting winnings are not taxable income, even for regular players (FDJ, 2022). The tax administration’s published doctrine (BOFiP, BOI-BNC-CHAMP-10-30-40) explains that gains are taxable as non-commercial profits (bénéfices non commerciaux) only where chance is eliminated or greatly reduced, such as habitual poker played in a professional manner, including online.
Operators
Operators pay levies, mainly calculated on GGR, which fund the state, social security and, for horse racing, the racing sector. The 2025 Social Security Financing Act raised several rates from 1 July 2025. FDJ summarised the changes in a February 2025 market announcement (FDJ United, 2025):
| Product | Total public levies before | From 1 July 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Loto and EuroMillions | 68% of GGR | 69% of GGR |
| Other draw and instant lottery games | 55.5% of GGR | 56.5% of GGR |
| Sports betting in retail outlets | 41.1% of GGR | 42.1% of GGR |
| Online sports betting | 54.9% of GGR | 59.3% of GGR |
| Online horse-race betting | 52.3% of GGR | 52.9% of GGR |
| Online poker | 0.2% of stakes | 10% of GGR |
Within these totals, the social security contribution (CSG) on online sports betting rose from 10.6% to 15% of GGR. The Act also introduced a 15% tax on gambling operators’ advertising and promotional spending. Casinos pay separate levies on gaming revenue, part of which goes to the host commune; Outremers360 reported in 2018 that the Cayenne project’s impact study estimated €1.5 to €2 million a year in tax receipts.
Anti-money laundering
Casinos, gaming clubs and online and exclusive-rights operators must report suspicious transactions to Tracfin, the French financial intelligence unit (Tracfin).
Consumer protection and responsible gambling
The main national tool is the voluntary gambling ban (interdiction volontaire de jeux), a form of self-exclusion managed by the ANJ. According to the ANJ’s information leaflet, it bars access to casinos and gaming clubs, to FDJ and PMU games played through a player account, and to all approved online betting and poker sites. It lasts at least three years and is renewed tacitly unless the person asks for it to be lifted. Applications are made online at interdictiondejeux.anj.fr, followed by an identity check by telephone.
Approved online operators must also offer self-exclusion from their own site for between 24 hours and 12 months, deposit and stake limits, and an automatic payout threshold. The ANJ promotes Evalujeu, a free and anonymous self-assessment tool.
The national helpline Joueurs Info Service can be reached on 09 74 75 13 13 at the cost of a local call. Its site lists useful local addresses for French Guiana, as well as for Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and Mayotte. See also our responsible gambling guide.
Recent and upcoming developments
- Online casino legalisation (2024–2026). In October 2024 the government of Michel Barnier proposed, as part of the 2025 budget, to legalise and tax online casino games (Yogonet, 2024). According to iGaming Business, the plan met opposition from the land-based casino sector, and online casino games were not legalised. In June 2025 the ANJ called for “a highly controlled regulatory approach” (iGaming Business, 2025).
- New ANJ chair (June 2026). Pascal Chevremont was appointed to succeed Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin. According to iGaming Expert, he said legalisation of online casinos “could only happen following the discussion by the legislature”. No online casino bill had been adopted at the date of this review.
- Higher gambling taxes (July 2025). The 2025 Social Security Financing Act increased levies on most products and introduced a 15% tax on gambling advertising (see Taxation).
- Overseas casino bills (2026). Two Senate bills would widen the casino location rules in Article L321-1 to further overseas communes governed by Article 73, which includes French Guiana. Bill No. 305 (registered 27 January 2026) and Bill No. 725 (10 June 2026) would admit overseas communes that have natural hydrothermal features and a protected natural site lying within a national park, or that include or adjoin a marine protected area; Bill No. 725 would also add new categories of mainland communes (bill No. 305; bill No. 725). Neither had been adopted when this guide was reviewed.
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The listings below are generated automatically from our casino database. They do not show that an operator is licensed in France. Offering online casino games such as slots, roulette or blackjack to residents of French Guiana is not permitted under French law, and no French licence exists for them, so the listings must not be read as an indication that playing is lawful. Only FDJ and the operators on the ANJ’s list of approved operators may lawfully offer online gambling, and only for lotteries, sports betting, horse-race betting and poker.
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Related country guides
- Suriname gambling guide
- Guyana gambling guide
- Trinidad and Tobago gambling guide
- Barbados gambling guide
- Grenada gambling guide
Sources and further reading
- Légifrance, Code de la sécurité intérieure, partie législative (consolidated version, accessed 13 October 2026).
- Autorité nationale des jeux, Catégories de jeux et canaux de distribution (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Autorité nationale des jeux, Opérateurs agréés (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Autorité nationale des jeux, Le marché (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Autorité nationale des jeux, Lutter contre l’offre illégale (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Autorité nationale des jeux, Liste noire des sites de jeux d’argent et de hasard interdits en France (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Autorité nationale des jeux, Une autorité indépendante and Foire aux questions (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Autorité nationale des jeux, L’interdiction volontaire de jeux (2021).
- Sénat, Pour une grande loi Guyane : 52 propositions, information report No. 337 (2020).
- Sénat, Rapport n° 584 (2022–2023) sur la proposition de loi visant à réduire les inégalités territoriales pour les ouvertures de casinos (2023).
- Assemblée nationale, Rapport n° 1873 sur la proposition de loi visant à réduire les inégalités territoriales pour les ouvertures de casinos (2023).
- Assemblée nationale, État d’avancement des travaux, proposition de loi n° 1239 (2023).
- Assemblée nationale, Question écrite n° 47100 (1997).
- Sénat, Proposition de loi n° 305 visant à adapter le régime d’autorisation des casinos dans les départements et les régions d’outre-mer (2026) and Proposition de loi n° 725 portant extension du régime des casinos (2026).
- Joueurs Info Service, La règlementation des jeux d’argent et de hasard (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Direction générale des finances publiques, BOI-BNC-CHAMP-10-30-40: Professions sportives (accessed 13 October 2026).
- FDJ, Les gains aux jeux FDJ sont-ils imposables ? (2022); FDJ United, 2025 outlook affected by increased taxes on betting and gaming in France (2025).
- Pinsent Masons (Richard, A. and Greze, B.), France’s gambling regulations should be updated for the 21st century (2023).
- Ministère de l’Économie, Tracfin: service de renseignement financier (accessed 13 October 2026).
- Outremers360, Guyane : pose de la première pierre du casino-théâtre de Cayenne (2024) and La mairie de Cayenne choisit Montabo pour y construire son nouveau casino (2018).
- Gambling Insider, Casino-Théâtre de Cayenne : ouverture en septembre (2026).
- iGaming Business, ANJ calls for “highly controlled approach” to iGaming in France (2025); iGaming Expert, New ANJ Chair weighs in on France’s online casino future (2026).
- G3 Newswire, First casino in French Guiana to open on 5 November (12 October 2026).
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