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l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has published the first report of ‘Mediateur des Jeux en Ligne’ (Mediateur) – French online gambling’s consumer disputes moderator service.
The report forms part of ANJ’s new supervisory framework monitoring French gambling activities, whilst providing greater transparency of its market oversight.
Established in September 2019, Mediateur provides an independent dispute moderating service between French online gambling consumers and licensed operators, including monopoly incumbents FDJ (national lottery) and PMU (French horseracing).
The service is operated by ‘honorary magistrate’ Denys Millet, serving as an impartial arbitrator between mediating disputes to find a ‘fair settlement’ between parties.
During 2020, Mediateur recorded a total of 1420 dispute requests made by French consumers against licensed operators.
Mediateur reports that sports betting ‘wager cancellations’ accounted for the vast majority of its mediation requests (82%).
A breakdown of results saw 761 applications deemed as inadmissible, as Mediateur cited that the majority of failed applicants (80%) had not provided any written complaint on their dispute with the operator.
Of the 659 ‘applicable complaints’, Mediateur said that it was able to close 530 cases, with an average processing time of 62 days recorded to settle the disputes.
Reviewing its disputes, Mediateur highL’Autoritélighted that French sports betting operators needed to revise and clarify a number of terms and conditions in relation to bet cancellations.
Of note, the dispute service found that players required more detailed information on how cash-out payments are settled and with regards to wager related bonus offerings.
