New gambling regulatory body established in France.
The French government is planning to create a new gambling authority, named ANJ (L'autorité nationale des jeux), which will begin functioning as early as spring. This will replace the previous regulatory authority, ARJEL (L'Autorité de régulation des jeux en ligne). Here are the anticipated changes:
Handling All Market Activities
Ever since October 2019, the French government has been discussing the creation of a new gambling supervisory body. The authority will be established in the coming spring, and for the first time, all legal gambling activities will be covered under one umbrella - the ANJ. Till now, different authorities and ministries handled the monitoring of individual sectors.
ARJEL managed legal online gambling, while the State Chamber oversaw land-based gambling, including casinos, gaming halls, lottery games, and scratch cards. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Landscape was responsible for the horse betting sector. The ANJ will now control all these sectors, except state casinos. The Council of Ministers stated, "The national gambling authority ANJ will become the main player in the regulation of gambling in France. This new independent administrative authority will have increased powers in a much broader area of competence."
This decision comes as a result of the French National Lottery's (FDJ) privatization. Last November, the FDJ entered the stock market with great success, leading to the liberalization of the national gambling sector.
Player Protection
Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, a State Councillor and former President of the National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties (CNIL), will manage the new authority. From the get-go, the ANJ has started working on player protection issues, being responsible for tackling problems like protecting minors, guarding against gambling addiction and fraudulent and criminal activities, combating money laundering, and ensuring a balanced economy across all gambling sectors.
Regarding its future tasks, the ANJ highlighted, "The authority will have to take care of guaranteeing the protection of minors, preventing gambling addiction and fraudulent and criminal activities, taking action against money laundering and ensuring an economic balance between the different sectors of gambling."
A significant part of player protection involves regulating gambling advertising, especially in the sports betting market. In spring, the ANJ will be in charge of issuing licenses for this purpose. The authority will be empowered to "require an operator to suspend any commercial communication that encourages excessive gambling."
In the casino sector, the ANJ's main focus will be on combating excessive gambling behavior. To achieve this, it aims to closely collaborate with the Ministry of the Interior. Due to previous cases of regulatory chaos originating from multiple authorities being involved, this sector was often neglected.
Embracing Digital Innovation
The primary objective of these market reforms is to adapt to the digital age. This shift is most evident in the French national lottery FDJ, which earlier turned to the stock market. To drive FDJ's digital transformation, a special fund of EUR 500 million is earmarked for possible investments in the company's digital restructuring efforts.
FDJ's strategic plan, "FDJ 2020," initially introduced in 2015, proposed digitalizing its portfolio incrementally. So far, over 400 million euros have been invested in these measures. Furthermore, the FDJ.fr website was revised, and investments have been made in innovation funds like Partech Partners, Raise Investment, Level Up, and Trust-E-Sport.
In 2018, FDJ saw a significant boost in its digital growth thanks to its new mobile app, "Mission Patrimoine." This app allows players to access all FDJ's draw and instant games. Consequently, digital instant game stakes increased by 3.2%, reaching 7.7 billion euros.
Benefits to the Treasury
In the last quarter of 2018, FDJ earned a revenue of 15.8 billion euros through online sales, which marks a 45.5% (EUR 2.4 billion) surge compared to the previous year. This means online gambling contributes to more than 15% of the entire French gaming market's revenue. The target for 2020 is to generate at least 20% of revenue via online gambling.
These reforms were encouraged by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and President Emmanuel Macron. The state is expected to benefit from the burgeoning online gambling market, potentially receiving additional tax revenue of around 2 billion euros from lottery income alone. More developments remain to be seen.
Read also:
- Remaining contenders down to two in DFB's struggle versus Brazil.
- Schalke's Transfer Assessment: A Season of Wastefulness
- Shocking development in the NBA!
- Law enforcement agencies in various metropolises plan expansive measures for May 1.
Source: www.onlinecasinosdeutschland.com
