Hybrid digital games reached 39.0% of French 15-to-17-year-olds in the three months before the ENJEU-Mineurs 2025 survey, according to results that research body ARPEJ and the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ) published on 19 October 2026. The survey covered 5,000 minors.
The share is higher among boys (42.4%) than girls (35.4%). ARPEJ ran the research in partnership with ANJ and uses the label for six types of game: social casinos, free demo versions of gambling games, video games with casino-style mechanics, video games with loot boxes, fantasy sports and Web3 play-to-earn games. The data are in the ENJEU-Mineurs 2025 report by M.L. Tovar, P. Saliot and J.-M. Costes and in a six-page ARPEJ summary.
Hybrid digital games by type
Video games with casino elements are the most common form at 26.3%, followed by free demo games on casino platforms (18.1%) and social casino games (16.6%), ANJ said. Social casino games copy casino mechanics and sell credits or levels. ANJ does not classify them as gambling because they offer players no winnings.
| Game type | No spending (%) | With spending (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Video games with casino elements | 26.3 | n/a |
| Free demo games on casino platforms | 18.1 | n/a |
| Social casino games | 13.5 | 8.7 |
| Loot boxes | 8.8 | 8.5 |
| Fantasy sports | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Web3 and play-to-earn | n/a | 2.6 |
Source: ARPEJ, ENJEU-Mineurs 2025 report, Table 2. Share of 5,000 respondents in the three months before the survey; respondents can appear in both columns. Loot boxes without spending are those earned through prolonged play.
Paid loot boxes show the widest gender gap: 11.2% of boys bought them against 5.6% of girls, according to the report.
Spending
ANJ said 15.6% of these players had spent money on the games. Fewer than 10% of respondents spent on social casino games (8.7%) or video games with loot boxes (8.5%), according to the report.
Among spenders who gave a monthly amount, 19.4% of social casino players spent more than €50 a month. Of loot box buyers, 38.7% spent less than €10.
| Game type | Under €10 (%) | €10 to €50 (%) | Over €50 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social casino games | 30.1 | 50.5 | 19.4 |
| Loot boxes | 38.7 | 45.4 | 15.9 |
| Fantasy sports | 27.0 | 60.0 | 13.0 |
| Web3 and play-to-earn | 36.9 | 58.4 | 4.7 |
Source: ARPEJ, ENJEU-Mineurs 2025 report, Table 4. Monthly spending of players who gave an amount (432 social casino, 423 loot box, 138 fantasy sports, 131 Web3). The €10 to €50 column adds the report’s €10 to €20 and €21 to €50 bands (TGE calculation).
The qualitative results come from four focus groups of seven to eight adolescents. ANJ said the move from free to paid play is helped by publishers’ design choices and by the absence of age checks. The tools it lists are rare, random rewards, audio and visual effects, notifications, time-limited events and promotions, and staged reward openings, which create the excitement and urgency that favour repeat spending.
On parental oversight, 75.7% of respondents believe their parents know about their spending. More than one in 10 think their parents underestimate or ignore how money can be spent in these games, according to ANJ.
Gambling risk among mixed players
Some 58.8% of hybrid digital game players also gamble, ANJ said. The report counts 1,151 of these mixed players, 23.0% of all respondents. On the Canadian Adolescent Gambling Inventory (ICJA), 26.0% of mixed players scored high severity, against 3.9% of those who only gamble.
| Group | High severity (%) |
|---|---|
| Players who only gamble | 3.9 |
| All gamblers | 16.2 |
| Mixed players | 26.0 |
| Mixed players, hybrid games and sports betting | 32.8 |
| Mixed players, hybrid games and slot machines | 34.6 |
| Mixed players who spent on hybrid games | 40.7 |
| Mixed players who did not spend | 14.1 |
Source: ARPEJ, ENJEU-Mineurs 2025 summary (Points Clés n°6). Share scoring high on the ICJA severity scale; 992 respondents only gamble, 1,151 are mixed players and 2,143 gamble in total.
Some 68.9% of hybrid game players said they saw ads urging them to bet on gambling while playing, mostly on social networks, TikTok and Instagram, ANJ said. The qualitative results suggest that some casino-style games can lead into real-money gambling.
The teenagers showed biases found in gambling: an illusion of control, persisting after disappointing results, a strong pull towards loot boxes and difficulty quitting. Mixed players reported more negative consequences than teenagers who only gamble, including sleep disorders, stress and difficulty regulating mood, ANJ said.
On responsible gambling, Emmanuel Benoit, Director General of ARPEJ, said the economic models behind hybrid games aim to capture young people’s attention and spending.
These mechanisms can encourage risky practices and cognitive biases, and even encourage a move towards gambling. Early awareness among young people of the risks linked to these digital practices is therefore essential, and parents must be placed at the heart of prevention so they can identify risky mechanisms, talk with their children and support them in these new uses.
Emmanuel Benoit, Director General, ARPEJ, in comments published by ANJ (translated from French)
Next steps
Pascal Chèvremont, President of ANJ, said the study documents a growing gamblification of digital games, meaning the use of gambling mechanics in other activities. He said it also feeds thinking on new Web3 offers such as JONUM, under the experiment set by the SREN law.
This first study in France shows the porosity between gambling and other types of games that include mechanics close to those of gambling.
Pascal Chèvremont, President, Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), in comments published by ANJ (translated from French)
Source: Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ) and ARPEJ
