French regulator calls on online gambling operators to reassess promotional budgets
L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has urged France’s leading online gaming operators to reconsider their promotional strategies due to growing concerns about high-risk gambling.
France.- The French gambling regulator, L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has asked the four largest online gaming operators in the country to reduce their promotional budgets for 2025.
While the ANJ has approved the operators’ 2025 plans, it has requested that the largest operators make specific adjustments to their promotional budgets. These adjustments should focus on reducing spending in key areas such as financial retention rewards and marketing (including advertising and sponsorship). Smaller operators are not subject to this reduction request.
The request comes in response to concerns about a rise in high-risk players, with a particular focus on financial rewards and sports advertising and sponsorship. The ANJ has set a deadline of February 17, 2025, for operators to submit their adjustments to comply with the requested reductions.
In 2024, online operators showed “greater restraint” in distributing bonuses, leading to a 3 per cent decrease in promotional spending compared to initial forecasts. Despite this moderation, the ANJ observed a 13 per cent increase in the number of active player accounts, driven largely by major sporting events such as Euro 2024 and the Olympics. These events significantly boosted player engagement, but the regulator is concerned about the absence of such large-scale competitions in 2025, which could affect player behaviour.
Looking ahead to 2025, the ANJ has reviewed operators’ promotional plans and found that spending is expected to increase by 11 per cent or €695m. This growth will be split between two key areas: marketing and financial rewards. Marketing investments, which have been impacted by inflation, are projected to rise by 12 per cent, while bonuses are set to increase by 11 per cent, representing 58.5 per cent of the total budget.
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Moreover, there is expected to be a “strong evolution” in sports sponsorship, with investments in this area projected to rise by 23 per cent. This increase in spending has raised concerns within the ANJ, which believes that larger investments in advertising and sponsorship could potentially encourage riskier gambling behaviour, leading to negative consequences for both the industry and society.
