New ANJ Study Highlights Hybrid Game Participation Among French Adolescents

France’s gambling regulator, the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), teamed up with research body ARPEJ to release findings from the ENJEU-Mineurs 2025 project that examined how teenagers interact with games blending video gaming and gambling-style mechanics. teh data covers French adolescents aged 15 to 17 and shows participation rates over the previous twelve months. Researchers gathered responses directly from this age group to map exposure levels and spending patterns without relying on adult recollections or broader surveys.

Key Participation Rates in Hybrid Digital Games

According to the study, 39 percent of those surveyed reported playing at least one hybrid digital game during the reference period. The most frequent category involved video games that incorporate casino elements, which reached 26.3 percent of respondents. Free demo casino games followed at 18.1 percent, while social casino games accounted for 16.6 percent of reported activity. These figures come from a structured questionnaire administered through schools and youth networks, allowing analysts to separate occasional exposure from repeated engagement across multiple formats.

The overlap between categories proved notable because many teenagers sampled more than one type of hybrid experience. This pattern suggests that initial contact with one mechanic often leads to exploration of others within the same twelve-month window. Data collectors noted that platform accessibility on mobile devices contributed to the breadth of participation, since most hybrid titles operate through app stores or browser-based portals without requiring age verification at entry.

Expenditure Patterns and Risk Indicators

Nearly 16 percent of the teenagers who engaged with these games reported making related expenditures. Payments ranged from in-game purchases that unlock cosmetic features to direct bets within simulated casino environments. The study tracked these transactions through self-reported amounts and frequency, then cross-referenced them against standardized gambling risk assessment tools. Mixed players—those who combined hybrid game play with traditional gambling activities—registered significantly higher scores on the risk scales compared with those who limited themselves to hybrid formats alone.

ARPEJ researchers applied validated screening instruments to quantify problem gambling indicators such as loss of control and preoccupation. The elevated scores among mixed players emerged consistently across demographic subgroups, prompting the team to flag this cohort for closer monitoring in future waves of the ENJEU-Mineurs project. The report links these outcomes to the structural similarities between hybrid mechanics and real-money gambling loops, particularly the use of random reward schedules and progression systems that mirror slot or table game dynamics.

Regulatory Context and Data Collection Methods

The ANJ oversees gambling compliance in France and maintains a dedicated research program focused on youth protection. Collaboration with ARPEJ allowed the regulator to draw on established academic protocols for sampling minors while adhering to ethical guidelines that require parental consent and anonymized responses. The resulting dataset covers several thousand participants and provides the first national-level snapshot of hybrid game exposure in this age bracket. The full ANJ report details the methodology, including weighting procedures used to align the sample with national census figures.

Survey questions distinguished between free-to-play hybrid titles and those that permit direct spending. This separation helped isolate the subset of players who progressed from no-cost experimentation to paid participation. Observers note that the 16 percent expenditure rate aligns closely with patterns seen in earlier European youth studies on social gaming, though the French data adds granularity by linking spending to specific hybrid subcategories.

Implications for Ongoing Monitoring

The study supplies baseline measurements that the ANJ intends to track across subsequent annual editions of the ENJEU-Mineurs research. By repeating the same questionnaire structure, analysts will be able to detect shifts in participation rates or changes in the risk profile of mixed players. The regulator has already incorporated the current findings into internal briefings on digital product oversight, particularly regarding age-gating features and payment flow restrictions on platforms that host hybrid content.

School-based recruitment and online panels both contributed respondents, which reduced the chance that any single delivery channel skewed the overall results. Cross-tabulation of responses by region and socioeconomic indicators revealed only modest variation, indicating that hybrid game exposure cuts across traditional demographic boundaries within the 15-17 age range. The consistency of these patterns supports the decision to treat the 39 percent headline figure as a stable reference point for policy discussions.

Conclusion

The ANJ-ARPEJ collaboration delivers concrete numbers on how French teenagers aged 15-17 engage with hybrid digital games that combine video gaming and gambling-style mechanics. Participation stands at 39 percent over twelve months, led by casino-element video games, free demo titles, and social casino formats. Nearly 16 percent of players reported expenditures, and those who also gambled elsewhere showed higher risk scores. The report supplies a foundation for continued tracking through the ENJEU-Mineurs series and informs regulatory attention to platform design features that may influence youth behavior.