ANJ Slaps Operator with €500,000 Fine Over Player Protection Deficiencies

France’s gambling regulator, L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has issued a €500,000 penalty against an unnamed operator following a probe into its duty‑of‑care failings. The ANJ’s Sanctions Committee reviewed the gambling activity of 30 players between 1 October 2023 and 31 March 2024, applying seven indicators—including deposit frequency, lost deposits, play frequency, bet volume, changes to legal gambling limits, use of self‑exclusion tools, and the number of accounts per player—to assess whether the operator had met its obligations.

The committee found that the operator had failed its duties for “almost all” of the players examined. According to the ANJ, some players were never flagged as potentially at risk, while others were assigned a risk level that was too low given their actual gambling patterns. The regulator also said the company did not implement the graduated, proportionate support measures required to help curb excessive play.

In its defence, the operator reportedly argued that French law does not provide a clear definition of excessive or pathological gambling, making it impossible to have violated an undefined obligation. It also claimed that using the number of bets as an indicator was flawed because cancelled bets should not be counted, and that not every change to gambling limits should be seen as a sign of problem gambling.

The ANJ rejected those arguments, stating that a €500,000 fine was proportionate considering the seriousness of the breaches, their impact on players, and the length of time the shortcomings persisted.

The case comes as the ANJ pushes a stricter enforcement agenda under its new president, Pascal Chèvremont, who took office last month. The regulator has also rolled out a new algorithm to detect problem gambling in France, with initial data showing that high‑risk players generate approximately 60 per cent of total operator gross gaming revenue.