French gambling regulator rejects six operator action plans on problem gambling

The ANJ says many plans were the same as last year’s.

France.- Last month, L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) reported a marked improvement in gambling operators’ AML plans this year. However, it hasn’t been able to say the same thing about their plans to prevent problem gambling.

The French gambling regulator has rejected six of the plans submitted, saying it found “little significant progress”. It evaluated plans from 235 racetracks, 203 casinos and seven gaming clubs. Those that were rejected were from five casinos and one gaming club.

For the casinos, the regulator reiterated comments it made last year, insisting the operators make use of monitoring tools while improving internal organisation, staff training and safer gambling information. It said there had been “few significant advances or innovative actions” in the area and intends to publish a practical guide to advise casinos on identifying and supporting potential problem gamblers.

While all the action plans submitted by the National Federation of Horse Racing were approved, the ANJ complained that they were “substantially identical” to last year’s plans. It alerted racetracks to the need to make a clear separation between spaces for families and spaces for betting.

French gambling regulator fines seven firms

Last month, the ANJ 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.