On June 22, the new gambling regulator of France officially launched. L’Autorité nationale des Jeux (ANJ) is now in charge, after board members held their first formal meeting. The ANJ will be the single governing body that oversees all gambling in France. This will include horse race betting, online gambling, lottery and casinos. In the past, the gambling regulator ARJEL was only in charge of online gambling regulation.
ANJ will be busy as they take over as the full regulator in France. They will be in charge of 14 licensed online gambling operators as well as Francaise des Jeux betting games and point of sale lottery games. They will also be in charge of on-course bookmakers and retail betting outlets of the Pari-Mutuel Urbain network.
On top of that, ANJ will oversee the 202 land-based casinos in France. The only thing that the regulator will not cover is integrity issues and anti-money laundering, as that will be done by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The transition of power took place on March 4, moving from ARJEL to ANJ. But it was not until the official meeting took place yesterday that the new regulator was official. Isabell Falque-Pierrotin is the president of ANJ who stated that she would like to see regulation set up that combines support and control to serve and protect players better.
There are four core objectives that ANJ will be focusing on. The goal is to prevent problem gambling among children and young adults, while providing protection as well as ensure that gambling is transparent, reliable and has integrity. They will also be focusing on preventing fraudulent and criminal activity along with ensuring that games are developed in a fair and balanced manner.
ANJ will have more power than ARJEL, with the authority to order an operator to stop offering advertising materials as well as carrying out on-site controls.
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