France's Gambling Authority Lists Initial Collection of Unapproved Online Casinos
France's gambling overseer, the National Gaming Authority (ANJ), is consistently cracking down on suspicious online gambling sites. This week, they published their inaugural blacklist of websites that failed to meet French gambling standards and require blocking.
This latest list, which the ANJ updates monthly, comprises 532 online gambling platforms. In numerous instances, the same shady operator introduced multiple sites, all of which the regulator found to be breaking the law.
Notable entries on the list include MaChance. They repeatedly introduced new sites between September and February, resulting in approximately 40 ANJ blocking orders.
A year ago, the legal foundation for combating unlawful online gambling became more flexible. Previously, the ANJ's president had to appeal to a judicial court judge to seek a blocking order. This process took an average duration of four to six months before the judge-issued resolution.
Since March 2022, securing a blocking order transitioned from a legal matter to an administrative procedure. This marked the first time for an administrative blocking and delisting order last June.
France has a limited number of licensed online operators. With a population of over 67 million, there are only 17 approved operators. These offer a total of 26 regulated gambling platforms, according to the ANJ. Spain, with a population of 74.4 million, has 77 operators, according to the country's gaming regulator. These offer 128 online gambling platforms. The UK has over 268 licensed operators for a population of 67.3 million.
iGaming Whack-a-Mole
The typical processing time for an order is only one to two months and is subject to approval from an administrative judge. Since the transition, 152 orders have been issued regarding 532 URLs linked to unlawful gambling content.
Consequently, the ANJ can exclude the platform from France. They will correspond with each company and allow them five days to comply. If the company resists, the regulator will instruct ISPs to block access to websites they add to their list. However, using a VPN with a French ISP, several of the ANJ's blacklisted platforms, including some allegedly blocked six months ago, are still operable.
In addition, the regulator can also order search engines to remove the names. Yet, as MaChance showed, if one site shuts down, another emerges.
Some illicit operators proved they're not particularly intelligent at evading scrutiny. Joël-Robuchon.net, for instance, stole the name of the late famed French chef and was a disaster waiting to happen. A Chef of the Century and Michelin star-winner, despite his association with MGM Resorts, would probably not launch an online casino, and the name immediately attracted unwanted attention from the ANJ.
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