French ombudsman tells operators to move faster on account suspensions
The Médiateur des Jeux has delivered its annual report.
France.- The French gambling ombudsman Médiateur des Jeux has issued its annual report with the regulator L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ). It claimed that operators are delaying or rejecting account suspension measures.
Honorary magistrate Denys Millet called on operators to implement such measures as soon as a player does not respond to prevention messages, avoids attempts at contact or changes gambling behaviour by increasing his deposits and bets, reflecting a clear loss of control.
The report found that the number of referrals regarding addiction remains low in relation to the number of problem gamblers. However, it also recognised that there had been an increase in the number of complaints about account closures from players who didn’t consider themselves to be problem gamblers.
The ombudsman processed 1,523 player requests for intervention in 2023, a rise of 11 per cent from 2022. The vast majority involved disagreements between sports bettors and bookmakers. Some 754 cases were processed with an average processing time of 31 days.
The report also makes recommendations on refunding player accounts in cases of suspected fraud, noting that suspicions about the authenticity of documents can justify account closure but that operators must provide precise factual reasons if they decide to confiscate deposits. Reports of suspicious activity must be made to the financial tracking unit TRACFIN.
It also made recommendations on terms and conditions regarding the cancellation of bets placed on the same selection in a short space of time and about informing players of account closures due to inactivity.
Rise in French gambling revenue
The ANJ has reported definitive revenue figures for full-year 2023. Gross gaming revenue was up 3.5 per cent year-on-year at €13.4bn. The regulator noted that growth was observed across all verticals, leading to record activity for the sector after stabilisation in 2022 following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It noted that while growth was slightly below the Europe-wide average of 5.5 per cent, it was comparable to the neighbouring markets of Germany, the UK and Spain.
