ANJ calls for whistle-to-whistle gambling ad ban and sponsorships crackdown
French gambling regulator l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has proposed a whistle-to-whistle ban on gambling advertising as one of a number of legislative recommendations.
At a conference organised by the ANJ, the regulator outlined its plans for stricter supervision of gambling sponsorship, as well as the introduction of loss limit tools that could cap what players between the ages of 18 and 25 lose.
These measures are only proposed at this stage, with no set timeline as to when the ANJ would plan to implement the recommendations. The ANJ intends to use the 2026 Fifa World Cup to run a large-scale campaign to promote responsible gambling.
A whistle-to-whistle ban would be similar to a self-regulatory measure introduced by operators in the UK in 2019.
Another move to regulate sponsorship
A call for stricter supervision of gambling sponsorship comes after the ANJ in January ordered France’s four biggest operators to cut their marketing and sponsorship spending at the start of the year.
Within its post-conference report the ANJ said “stricter supervision of sponsorship to combat the trivialisation of gambling” was required.
France’s Ligue 1 football league is not as heavily associated with gambling operators sponsoring teams as other prominent football leagues, with Winamax the only gambling-related front-of-shirt sponsor in the 2024-25 season via its deal with Le Havre.
However, Betclic is the official sportsbook sponsor of the Fédération Française de Rugby.
In 2023, the ANJ released new regulations regarding the use of images of athletes in gambling communications. If regulators deem athletes to be popular with minors, operators cannot then use their image.
Simone Alexe, head of the addiction prevention office at the Directorate General of Health, said during the event that new messaging to warn players of the harms gambling can cause should come into force for the 2026 football World Cup.
She said France’s players-info-service website recorded more than eight million visits in 2024, a 44% increase compared to 2023. One third of these requests came from players’ friends and family members.
Strategic plan for French gambling regulation
The ANJ’s conference report also highlighted the need for additional player protection tools.
It has implemented an annual monitoring programme to identify excessive gamblers. Around ten monitoring operations are planned and could give rise to several referrals to the sanctions committee by the end of the year.
In the report the ANJ said: “Cultural changes are finally necessary, and the 2026 Fifa World Cup offers us a good opportunity to offer a large-scale campaign. More generally, it’s about repositioning gambling as an entertainment economy (and not a game), which collectively involves deconstructing the myth of ‘easy money’.”
It previously outlined plans to reduce excessive gambling, including the strengthening of systems that identify and support excessive gamblers. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, president of the ANJ, has outlined the regulator’s plans to make gambling in France less reliant on high-risk players and become more sustainable.
The ANJ said it is considering the development of tools that will enable the systematic identification of problem gamblers, and is developing an algorithm for detecting excessive gamblers. The ANJ is aiming to have the system live by 2026.
In its 2024 annual report, the ANJ said it was consulting with the French government on the legalisation of iGaming in the country.