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The French Online Gaming Association (AFJEL) has reiterated its calls to legalise online casino games after the latest report from the National Gaming Authority (ANJ) documented further growth of unlicensed online gambling.��

France's illegal market now has 4m players, compared with 3.5m in the legal market, according to the ANJ's .��

AFJEL also highlighted other statistics of concern, including a decline in unique players by 5.3 percent, in a press release on April 24.

The french market also grew slower than compared with the rest of Europe, at 3.5 percent compared with 5.5 percent.

Nicolas Beraud, the president of AFJEL, said: “The illicit market continues its very strong expansion through the illegal online casino which has now become a Trojan horse to also capture players in sports betting.

"More than 4 million players are in danger on these illegal sites, without any control. Despite the efforts made by the authorities to stem the phenomenon of illegal gambling, we have reached an unprecedented situation: for the first time since the opening of the online gaming market in 2010, there are more players on the illegal market than on the legal market.”

Beraud also expressed his alarm that the trend towards unlicensed gambling continues in the run up to Paris hosting the Olympics later in 2024.��

Maarten Haijer, the secretary general of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), told 91����ԭ��: "The growth of France’s online black market is truly alarming, particularly as it now has more French players than the country's regulated market and is one of the Europe’s biggest black markets."

Haijer added that: "Regulating online casino games is not only the solution but a necessity to address the worrying size of the black market.”

These concerns are not new for the French industry.

In December, a study from PwC found that the illegal market in France could be worth up to €1.5bn. It found that 510 illegal websites target French players, by contrast 18 sites operate legally in France.