France's ANJ flags hybrid video games as route into gambling
A study for French regulator ANJ finds two in five teenagers have played games blending gaming and gambling mechanics, with researchers warning of a gateway effect into real-money betting.
France's gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has published research warning that video games increasingly replicate the mechanics of real-money gambling and may be priming adolescents to take up betting later in life.
The study, carried out by the Association for Research and Prevention of Excessive Gambling (ARPEJ) in partnership with ANJ and published on Monday, surveyed 5,000 teenagers aged 15 to 17 about their use of what researchers term "hybrid digital games" — jeux numériques hybrides, or JNH.
These are titles that borrow gambling-style mechanics without necessarily being gambling products themselves. ARPEJ's definition spans social casino games that mimic slot machines or card and table games using virtual currencies such as CrownCoins or McLuck, titles like Grand Theft Auto where players can enter in-game casinos, loot-box formats such as EA Sports FC Ultimate Team and Genshin Impact, and fantasy sports games including Mon Petit Gazon and Fungiball.
Grand Theft Auto VI is due to launch on 19 November 2026, with expectations, according to SBC News, that it will be the biggest global video game release to date, following the 2013 debut of GTA V.
ARPEJ found that 39% of respondents had played a JNH-format game in the preceding three months, with the figure higher among boys (42.4%) than girls (35.4%). Some 15.6% of respondents had made a financial transaction linked to such games.
Most of these titles are free to play, but ARPEJ said they "frequently incorporate mechanisms that encourage young players to make microtransactions in order to progress more quickly or gain advantages within the game".
The research agency said two thirds of minors who played hybrid casino-style games had done so before engaging in real-money gambling, describing a "gateway effect" in which game mechanics introduce young players to gambling behaviours ahead of actual wagering.
Nearly 69% of respondents said they had been exposed to advertising encouraging real-money betting while playing hybrid games, mostly on social platforms including TikTok and Instagram.
The findings build on an earlier ARPEJ announcement from February, which found that 43% of respondents had played a real-money game of chance, such as a scratchcard or draw game in a retail outlet, within the prior 12 months — an eight-point rise on 2021 figures.
Using the Canadian Adolescent Gambling Inventory, a tool that measures risk-taking severity, researchers found that minors who played both traditional gambling games and hybrid digital games scored far higher for problem-behaviour severity, at 26%, compared with 3.9% among those who played only traditional gambling formats. The study also linked heavier engagement with higher-risk game formats to sleep disturbance, stress and difficulty regulating mood among young players.
ANJ is one of three European gambling regulators, alongside counterparts in Sweden and Denmark, to have launched dedicated research into the links between video gaming and gambling behaviour in young people. Regulators in Spain and the Netherlands have so far focused their scrutiny more narrowly on loot-box mechanics.
No common EU-wide legal framework yet determines whether loot boxes should be classified and regulated as gambling, leaving the question to individual member states. That gap has produced legal disputes, including in the Netherlands, where Electronic Arts successfully overturned enforcement penalties totalling up to €10m over loot boxes in its FIFA titles, a ruling handed down by a court in The Hague in 2022.