Player fraud subject to new guidance from French gaming regulator
The ANJ’s new guidance expands its player fraud typology and stresses the need for gaming operators to gather evidence.
France.- The French gambling regulator the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has published a new guide aimed at helping licensed gambling operators identify, investigate and respond to player fraud. The document provides what the regulator describes as a practical framework without creating any new legal obligations.
The document is significant for operators across France’s regulated online gambling market because it sets out a more detailed classification of fraud risks and clarifies how operators should handle player accounts and balances when fraudulent activity is established. The guide applies to gambling products involving online player registration, including online betting and gaming, lottery products and retail networks that require a player account.
In the introduction, ANJ stresses that operators have a statutory duty to contribute to the prevention of fraudulent activities. The regulator says the guide has been created to support compliance with existing rules and to answer recurring questions from operators about dealing with fraud committed by players.
“The guide is intended as additional assistance in complying with standards already in force,” ANJ said, adding that it “does not create new obligations” and preserves operators’ contractual freedom within existing legal limits.
A central feature is the expanded fraud typology. ANJ identifies five principal categories of player fraud: identity fraud, payment method fraud, abusive chargeback claims, gambling-related fraud and so-called “money dumping”, a practice often associated with the transfer of value between accounts through gaming activity.
The regulator places emphasis on evidence gathering. According to the guide, operators must collect sufficient proof before characterising an incident as fraud. The guide includes a review of case law to help firms understand the evidential standards likely to be expected by courts in the event of a dispute.
The guide further highlights areas that are not covered by its definition of fraud, including certain forms of betting bots, coordinated betting, late betting and wagering based on obvious pricing errors. While these situations may still be addressed through operators’ contractual terms, they are treated separately from the fraud categories outlined in the document.
ANJ said the effectiveness of the guide depends on ongoing collaboration with the industry, stating that “permanent dialogue between the regulator and operators is a condition for the success of this exercise”
