French regulator says operators must "immediately reduce" ads

[The Buzz]

After conduction a review into betting practices at the UEFA European Championship 2020, France gambling regulator L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux issued a warning to operators after “a line was crossed” in terms of the volume of ads during the event, including the targeting of young people.

At a meeting on 20 July, which took place in a "constructive climate," ANJ issued two messages to the operators – one relating to the high number of sports betting advertising campaigns and one discouraging marketing communications that incite young people to gamble.

According to ANJ, the gaming operators indicated collectively that they shared the concerns expressed by the regulator and "stood ready to work alongside it to propose areas for improving and limiting these commercial communications."

From the ANJ:

The ANJ is implementing an action plan so that the games offer remains recreational and measured.

Taking into account the objective shared between the regulator and the operators of correcting practices, the ANJ announced the launch of 5 projects likely to combat the drifts observed and to clarify, or even complete, the legal framework. These projects must be completed by the end of the year.

In terms of advertising:

The ANJ asked the operators for a mid-term review of the implementation of their promotional strategies as approved by the ANJ college in January 2021 and reserves, after examining these reviews, the possibility of initiate sanction procedures in the event of non-compliance;

The ANJ will launch a stakeholder consultation at the start of the school year on the subject of advertising. This will then allow it to make recommendations to stakeholders and, if necessary, to propose new intervention tools;

Collaboration has been initiated with the ARPP to translate regulatory restrictions into concrete recommendations for operators. The objective is to issue precise and operational guidelines on advertising by the end of the year.

Read more here: https://anj.fr/euro-de-football-et-p...tion-energique