In June, the National Gaming Authority in France, Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) introduced a sports betting addiction campaign in preparation for the Euro 2024 tourney.
In the meantime, the regulator has been working on a brand new information campaign aimed at fighting off the spread of unlicensed online casinos.
“100% Winning?” Campaign, Already Live
The new campaign has been introduced under the “100% Winning?” title and its main purpose is to remind French consumers of the fact that online casinos are illegal in the country while issuing new warnings regarding the risks tied to gambling on black market platforms.
A survey cited by the ANJ revealed that half of all French players are unaware that online casinos are entirely illegal in the country.
To address this issue, the campaign will feature a series of visually striking ads designed to mimic the appearance of online casino websites and remind consumers that such sites are illegal and pose significant risks.
The fully digital campaign officially went live on October 7 and will be disseminated through a variety of platforms, including Snapchat and Twitch via ads, interactive advertisements on gaming apps, web banners, and testimonial videos on TikTok.
The messages conveyed by ANJ argue that unlicensed gambling sites are prone to dishonesty, often lack player protection mechanisms, and may steal personal data or install malicious software.
A Broader Strategy Against the Black Market
The regulator’s new 2024-2026 strategic plan includes a complete dismantling of the black market as a primary point of focus.
This is mandatory in the context of illegal online gambling currently representing between 5% and 11% of the overall gambling market in the country, according to ANJ’s president, Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin.
“It is particularly harmful to the players who consume it: addiction, over-indebtedness, family problems, etc,” Falque-Pierrotin further emphasized while pointing to the broader threat posed by illegal gambling to society in general, including the fact that the parallel market represents a source of “real financial support for multiple international criminal organizations.”
The regulator has long relied on its authority to block and delist illegal gambling sites. Since March 2022, it has issued 506 administrative blocking orders, resulting in the closure of 2,365 URLs.
This marks a significant increase, as the ANJ has blocked nearly twice as many sites in the past two and a half years as in the previous 12 years.
The Cloned Sites’ Issue
However, one ongoing challenge has been the resurfacing of blocked websites through mirror sites.
The latter are cloned versions of blocked domains that use different URLs.
To further strengthen its efforts, the ANJ has also been working with payment providers, tech companies, search engines, and social networks to disrupt the operation of these illegal platforms.
Additionally, the ANJ has enhanced its collaboration with national judicial authorities and European governments.
These combined efforts, along with information campaigns like “100% winning?”, form the foundation of the ANJ’s comprehensive strategy to undermine illegal gambling in France.
Last month, the country took a significant step forward in promoting responsible gambling when it announced a fresh collaboration between ANJ and the National Union of Family Associations.
