SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
France’s licensed operators have been warned by the L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) of ‘crossing the line on betting advertising volumes’ during this summer’s UEFA Euro 2020 championship.
The rebuke follows a review carried out by ANJ of operator advertising campaigns during the football tournament, in which France’s regulatory agency had previously warned incumbents of upholding their marketing duties back in January.
The ANJ stated that it was forced to ‘draw a yellow card on marketing communications that target young adults and fuel the easy illusion of winning money as particularly problematic’.
Citing a survey undertaken by Harris Interactive, the ANJ stated that it had garnered direct concerns on ‘questionable practices around sports betting’ from the French public.
As a result, the ANJ has instructed all licensed operators to submit ‘a mid-term activity’ report outlining their advertising campaigns approved for the remainder of the year.
The update saw the ANJ confirm that it would launch a ‘stakeholder consultation by the start of the school year’, addressing its concerns on marketing on gambling promotions.
Key areas that will be examined include an assessment of operator terms and conditions, the use of bonuses to attract customers and loyalty incentives.
Working with wider French agencies, the ANJ will further review the promotional narratives used by operators to attract consumers.
The agency highlighted its concerns of ‘tipster referrals’ and tipster websites, noting the ‘deceptive commercial practices of certain tipster or tipster sites which have recently grown strongly’.
“The Euros had an extremely useful effect because it highlighted and questioned problematic practices for sports betting that the ANJ had identified during this first year. of existence,” remarked ANJ President Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin. “It is not possible to make young people believe that one can easily win money by betting.
“Aware of the risks that the current situation poses to the protection of players, it wants to respond to them in a resolute and effective way with an action plan that will quickly result in the clarification of the applicable rules, the possible proposal of new intervention tools. and reinforced control or sanction actions.”
