Four in ten French teenagers use hybrid gambling-style games, ARPEJ study finds

Some 39% of French teenagers aged 15 to 17 used digital games that include gambling-style mechanics in the three months before a survey, and 15.6% made purchases with real money, according to the second part of the ENJEU-Mineurs 2025 study. The study was published on 19 October 2026 by the Association de Recherche et de Prévention sur les Excès du Jeu (ARPEJ) in collaboration with the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), France's gambling regulator.

The research was conducted on a sample of 5,000 teenagers aged 15 to 17 and examines the integration of gambling mechanics into video games and other digital activities. The report was prepared by Marie-Line Tovar, director of ARPEJ's research unit, Pauline Saliot, head of statistical studies, and Jean-Michel Costes, an associate researcher at the gambling research chair of Concordia University in Montreal. It combines a quantitative survey with discussion groups on minors' experiences and perceptions.

Video games that integrate typical casino elements were the most widespread activity, used by 26.3% of respondents. Free demonstration versions of casino games followed at 18.1%, social casinos at 16.6%, video games containing loot boxes at 13%, fantasy sports at 3.4% and games based on Web3 technologies or Play-to-Earn models at 2.6%. Overall participation was higher among boys at 42.4% than among girls at 35.4%.

Among teenagers who use hybrid digital games, 39.9% said they had made purchases. Social casinos, at 8.7% of the whole sample, and video games with paid loot boxes, at 8.5%, were the categories most often involving real money. Among social casino users who spend money, 19.4% reported spending more than €50 a month. In video games with purchased loot boxes, 38.7% of players spend less than €10 a month.

Some 58.8% of teenagers who use hybrid digital games said they also take part in traditional gambling. Among these players, 26% had a high score on the indicator used to measure the severity of gambling problems, against 3.9% of young people who only gamble. Among players who take part in both activities and spend money in hybrid games, 40.7% had a high severity score, against 14.1% of those who use these games without making purchases. On the video game disorder scale, 7.4% of participants who spend money had a high score, against 1.9% of those who play for free. The results document an association between spending, participation in several forms of play and more intense problematic behaviour, without establishing a direct causal link.

Some 68.9% of teenagers who take part in both hybrid digital games and gambling said they had been exposed, while using the former, to advertising inviting them to take part in gambling with real money. TikTok and Instagram were the most frequently cited channels. Testimonies collected in the discussion groups described the role of influencers in promoting content linked to opening virtual packs and obtaining rare rewards. According to the researchers, features such as random rewards, visual and sound effects, repeated notifications, limited-time offers and systems that encourage buying further attempts can favour the shift from free experiences to paid activities. The report also notes psychological mechanisms similar to those observed in gambling, including the illusion of control, the tendency to persist after negative results and difficulty stopping the activity.

On family knowledge, 75.7% of teenagers who make purchases in hybrid games believe their parents are informed about the spending. Some 12.6% said their parents know about the gaming activity but are unaware of the possibility of making purchases, while 11.7% said their families do not even know they use these games. Among young people whose parents are informed about the spending, 40.2% said family members finance it.

Emmanuel Benoit, director general of ARPEJ, drew attention to economic models that use the convergence between video games and gambling to retain users and encourage spending. According to Benoit, these mechanisms can favour risk behaviour, cognitive distortions and the shift towards forms of play with real money, and he considers early intervention essential, involving parents in understanding gaming mechanisms and in prevention. Pascal Chèvremont, president of the ANJ, said this first French research dedicated to the phenomenon documents the growing permeability between video games and gambling. The results also contribute to regulatory reflection on new digital offerings, including those based on Web3 and games with monetisable digital objects, known as JONUM, currently subject to an experimental framework in France. The study calls for stronger information for minors and families, better knowledge of monetisation dynamics and prevention tools suited to a digital environment in which video games, random rewards and gambling mechanisms are increasingly integrated.