ANJ: gambling operators on “upwards compliance trajectory”

The French gambling regulator has concluded its reviews of operators’ AML action plans.

France.- The French gambling regulator l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has completed its review of operators’ anti-money laundering (AML) action plans for 2023. It said it had approved most plans, noting “significant progress” since last year, but said some operators still needed to make improvements.

It made three assessments of the action plans, evaluating how they implemented anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules, how they implemented the ANJ’s 2022 recommendations and the content of the action plans for 2023.

It said: “To a very large extent, the operators have complied with the prescriptions and recommendations that the ANJ sent to them in 2022 and are now on an upward compliance trajectory.”

The only plan that was rejected was that of Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU). It said the operator had not implemented all the prescriptions formulated last year and that its 2023 action plan was insufficient. It also stated that a lack of human resources was preventing the operator from providing adequate point-of-sales checks and risk analysis.

It was also found to have “incomplete and still hypothetical” measures for handling large international bettors. It has one month to file a new action plan.

The regulator’s three priority areas for operators in 2023 are operator alerts, staff compliance with AML procedures and procedures for financial sanctions. It has also advised operators to pay attention to rules about asset freezes, politically exposed persons and guidelines for emergency procedure declarations.