The ANJ says seven online sports betting operators surpassed the player return rate ceiling.

France.- The national gambling regulator l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has issued warnings and financial penalties against seven online sports betting operators for passing France’s mandatory player return rate (TRJ in French) ceiling.

Investigating the operators’ activities in 2021, it found that they had breached rules that prohibit them from redistributing more than 85 per cent of a player’s stake following customer engagement. The regulator sent the cases to its Sanctions Committee, which agreed that the operators had breached their licence conditions.

The Sanctions Committee decided not to accompany the warning and financial sanctions with publicity measures, and so the regulator has not named the operators involved.

France’s return rate limit is intended as a measure against money laundering and terrorist financing, while the ANJ says it also helps prevent problem gambling.

ANJ: gambling operators on “upwards compliance trajectory”

Earlier this month, the ANJ 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.”

Meanwhile, the regulator has published a blacklist of 532 gambling websites that it has been subject to blocking and delisting orders. It says it will update the list every month as new orders are issued.

The ANJ gained powers to block unlicensed gambling sites and sites that advertise them a year ago. It issued 152 blocking orders since the first order in June and has listed 532 URLs including sites belonging to the brands Campeonbet, Casinoextra, Dublinbet, Kahuna Casino, Winmachance, MyStake, WinUnique, VegasPlus and YBet.