French gambling regulator announces board changes

The ANJ has named three new members to its board for six-year tenures.

France.- The French gambling regulator l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has made changes to its nine-member board. Isabelle Falque Pierrotin will remain president but three members have been replaced.

Board members Éliane Houlette, Mario Blaise and Wilfried Sand-Zantman have chosen not to continue on the board. They have been replaced by Thomas de Ricolfis, Jean-Pierre Couteron and Isabelle Bordry.

De Ricolfis is a deputy director of the DCPJ, a financial crime department in the National Police. Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre Couteron is the administrator of France’s Fédération Addiction service and an expert in addiction treatment. Isabelle Bordry is co-founder of the data anonymisation and protection company Retency. Her appointment retains ANJ’s promised 50/50 gender parity on its board.

The appointments have been approved by Bruno Le Maire, France’s minister for economy and finance. Appointments to the ANJ board last six years and are renewed every two.

In June, the ANJ announced that a new working group will inspect betting operators’ media contracts as part of its review of advertising standards.

The “working group of experts” will inspect bookmakers’ planned marketing campaigns with the aim of preventing excessive advertising and protecting minors and vulnerable audiences. It will also provide best practice guidelines for operators and media owners.

The move forms part of the ANJ’s focus on advertising after it warned operators about an “oversaturation” of marketing during the UEFA Euro 2020 Championships. Operators were instructed to submit six-month reports detailing their planned marketing campaigns for ANJ approval.