Jérôme Gallot appointed to lead French gambling ombudsman
Gallot has been appointed as director of the Médiateur des Jeux by the French gambling regulator.
France.- The French gambling regulator l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has appointed Jérôme Gallot as the new director of the national gambling ombudsman Médiateur des Jeux. The ombudsman intervenes in cases of player disputes with gambling operators.
Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, president of the ANJ said the appointment had been made to provide strong oversight mediation in the sector and that Gallot, who was chosen from a list of legal scholars, would apply his knowledge of consumer and competition law to enhance the effectiveness of the dispute resolution process.
Gallot has been a member of the Court of Auditors since 1985 and has served in the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He served as director-general of the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) from 1997 to 2003.
Under the mediation gambling mediation process in France, customers should try to resolve complaints directly with operators in writing. However, if 20 days pass with no satisfactory response, they can take the matter to the ombudsman.
The Médiateur des Jeux annual report shows it dealt with 1,523 mediation requests in 2023, up from 1,373 in 2022. Some 91 per cent were related to sports betting. The ombudsman rejected 752 requests, mainly because consumers had not gone through the initial step of submitting a written complaint to the operator. Of the requests that were accepted, around a third achieved a partial or complete solution.
Meanwhile, the French government has instead launched a six-month consultation on proposals to regulate online casino gaming. The first working group led by the Ministry of Health was to meet today (December 3) to address the issue of gambling addiction and problem gambling measures. Subsequent groups will focus on consumer protections and the contentious issue of the possible economic impact on land-based casinos. Land-based casinos want to be given a period of exclusivity if the vertical is legalised.
