ANJ to toughen rules on player rewards and bonuses 

l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), France’s unified gambling regulator, has published new guidelines on the promotion of gambling offers and incentives to consumers.  

The guidelines form part of the regulator’s wider review of French gambling’s advertising standards, currently undertaken with the media agencies of ARPP – France’s Professional Advertising Regulatory Authority and ARCOM – the Audiovisual Communication Regulator.  

At the start of the year, the ANJ had alerted licensed operators of its intentions to update rules on “gambling’s commercial offers involving financial rewards such as welcome offers, bonuses or freebets” as part of its 2022 regulatory agenda.

It outlined: “Less than a month before the opening of the Football World Cup, the ANJ wishes to improve the transparency of these practices and moderate them to protect players at risk.

An update is deemed necessary to offer consumers full transparency on rewards and incentives offered by licensed operators, in which ANJ stated that “specific guidelines are required to improve market standards”.

The guidelines are focused on the criteria of ‘Commercial Transparency’ and ‘Consumer Safeguards’ 

On transparency, the ANJ provided a breakdown of promotional requirements that must be displayed to consumers who take up offers.

Provisions include: the duration of the offer, deposit and wagering requirements, how the offer will be rewarded (real-money or game credits) and further conditions necessary to benefit from the offer.  

“The ANJ is regularly contacted by players who complain about the lack of clarity of these commercial offers which can also be the source of many disputes. As such, terms such as “free” or “offered” can often be used incorrectly.”

Operators must ensure that customers have full access to the offer’s terms and conditions, which must be written in a legible and transparent manner.

Regarding consumer safeguards, the ANJ seeks to “moderate the use of commercial offers” promoted to French consumers, stating that it would monitor the volume of bonus offers offered by operators.

“The ANJ emphasizes that the reasonable nature of these welcome or loyalty offers will be the subject of particular attention on its part during the annual review of the operators’ promotional strategies and their action plans in to prevent excessive gambling.” 

Operators have been warned to ‘exercise vigilance’, ensuring that offers are not sent to self-excluded players or customers showing signs of problematic gambling.

As stands, the ANJ recommends that welcome offers be limited to “no greater amount than €100”, whilst operators must ensure that players can opt-out of receiving all types of gambling offers.

ANJ will begin tighter monitoring of player rewards and bonuses offered by operators to make sure guidelines are followed to improve market safeguards and consumer standards, which aim to be adopted as market rules by 2023.