France’s ANJ renews online sportsbook licences

The new unified authority has confirmed the renewal of 10 licences.

France.- The new unified federal gambling authority, L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has renewed 10 online sportsbook licences following its summer recess.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of France’s regulated online gambling marketplace. At present, 19 licensed operators provide sports betting, horseracing and online gambling services.

ANJ took on the responsibility for licensing the regulated online gambling market from the former separate regulator ARJEL in June. It has since renewed 14 online sports betting licences.

It has allowed only one new operator to enter the market: GENY INFO, which has launched a specialist racing bookmaker called GenyBet.

Licence renewals are now set for five-year periods, dependent on operator conduct related to upholding player protection, AML, sports integrity and safer gambling advertising.

ANJ confirmed that all operators whose licences have been renewed have registered their operating software with ANJ monitoring systems.

The ANJ recently expanded the licensing provisions of BetConstruct’s European B2C subsidiary Vivaro Limited to allow it to launch barrierebet.fr with French hotel and leisure operator Groupe Barrière.

Total GGR for the regulated online gaming market in France reached €758m, up 8 per cent compared to the first half of 2019, ANJ has reported.