SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), France’s unified gambling regulator, has announced the formation of a new ‘Sanctions Committee’, charged with overseeing the disciplinary duties of French gambling.
Comprising six members representing France’s government, judiciary and legal systems, the Sanctions Committee will work independently from the ANJ on disciplinary matters.
The committee will be chaired by Council State, ‘rapporteur public’ Frédéric Dieu, who is designated to serve a six-year tenure alongside other committee members.
The interests of the French government will be maintained by Dieu and Dorothée Pradines, an officer of the Council of State.
The committee’s legal oversight will be guided by Judges Nicolas Brunner and Maud Choquet of the French Court of Auditors.
In addition, the committee will count on two advisers from the Court of Cassation, Fabrice DelBano and Véronique Boisselet, to provide expertise and oversight on judiciary affairs.
The committee will be tasked with “pronouncing sanctions such as warnings, suspensions, penalties and criminal charges” on companies deemed to have infringed French laws.
Further scrutiny allows for the committee to sanction reviews on key personnel and management of licence holders.
In a corresponding update, the ANJ revealed that it had called the Sanctions Committee into immediate action to review “seven online operators who have exceeded the ceiling of 85% of the player return rate (TRJ)”.
French bookmakers must observe a maximum player-return-rate (TRJ) of 85% including bonus rewards, a provision that is reviewed on a half-year basis.
The Sanctions Committee has been further summoned to review two operators “who allegedly disregarded their obligations to identify and support people whose gambling is excessive or pathological”.
The ANJ concluded its statement by reminding licensed operators that severe infringements of French gambling laws carried a maximum financial penalty of 5% of turnover.
