ANJ confirms record-high revenue in 2022
The official gambling regulatory and supervisory authority of France, L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), recently published the annual revenue report of the gambling segment of the country. The biggest highlight of the highly positive report was the gross gaming revenue (GGR), which reached €12.9 billion in 2022. This is the highest GGR figure France has recorded in the history of regulated gambling. All active gambling segments contributed to this growth, with monopolies and online sports betting chipping in with the significant chunks.
The official gambling regulatory and supervisory authority of France, L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), recently published the annual revenue report of the gambling segment of the country. ©Eddie Junior/Unsplash
The gambling industry is flourishing in almost all regulated jurisdictions worldwide. The rise of digitalization has acted like a trampoline for the iGaming segment. Meanwhile, land-based brick-and-mortar gambling operators are also bouncing back after experiencing a tantalizing phase during the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of active users and new player registrations is also rising as curious individuals dabble in the segment to discover what it offers and what one can gain from it – entertainment, money, or both. The French market is one of the regulated gambling markets in Europe that have recorded the most significant increase in numbers over the past few years. The market is home to a couple of monopolies and private operators, licensed and monitored by the ANJ. After taking complete regulatory and supervisory responsibility for the nation’s gambling segment three years ago, ANJ’s workload has increased due to the rise in the gambling segment’s activity. The regulator also has to focus on issuing licenses to gambling operators who want to enter the French market.
Managing and monitoring a competitive gambling market is challenging for any gambling regulator. However, since 2020, the ANJ has handled the pressure well and has fulfilled all its responsibilities. Ensuring a safe gaming environment is one of the primary aspects the regulator has to focus on. The player safety guidelines prohibit licensed gambling operators in the country from offering promotions that could lead to harmful gambling. In addition, the operators are prohibited from targeting vulnerable and self-excluded individuals in France with their marketing activities. Implementing an extensive toolbox comprising control and prevention options for gamblers, along with sanction measures in the gambling segment of the country, has boosted player safety measures. To better understand the market, the ANJ commissions surveys. The latest one was conducted in February this year to understand player behavior and the impact of inflation on French gamblers. The results shared in the annual gambling report confirmed that 45 percent of gamblers are experiencing financial challenges.
The annual gambling report also reported an impressive 20 percent spike in GGR. This increase was recorded despite the new gambling advertising guidelines which the ANJ introduced in an effort to reduce the gambling marketing intensity. A few jurisdictions around the world have imposed a blanket ban on gambling advertising and marketing activities. However, in France, licensed operators and monopolies can advertise their offers. Under the new guidelines, the French regulator has stated that even though advertising is permissible, it cannot be aggressive or targeted at vulnerable audiences. If any licensed operator goes overboard with their marketing activities, the ANJ will notify and even fine them if the offense is considered severe. To maintain the integrity of its gambling market, the regulator also combats unlicensed operators trying to target French players illegally. The ANJ also imposes measures to keep illicit activities like money laundering and match-fixing at bay. The operator received a big boost in June last year in this fight.
In the fight against illegal operators, a new weapon was added to the ANJ’s arsenal when the regulator’s President issued the first administrative order to block and delist unlicensed operators in June 2022. This administrative order hands the ANJ President the authority to get blocking and delisting approvals straight from the administrative judge, leapfrogging all other procedures that were in the way before the issuance of this order. Under this new regulation, the approval and complete blocking and delisting of a particular unlicensed domain will take one or two months. Earlier, this process would require four to six months. The process of blocking and delisting will be the same. Once detected, the illegal operator will be notified and asked to stop all operations in France. If the operator fails to comply with the request, ANJ will ask the country’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block the detected domains. Search engines will be asked to delist these operators from their directories. The process is unchanged, and only the timeframe has been reduced considerably.
Detailed analysis of the annual report of 2022 A record-high annual revenue from the gambling segment in France increased the country’s GGR by 20 percent. This spike was significantly higher than the one recorded last year. The GGR in France in 2021 amounted to €10.7 billion, which was seven percent higher than the revenue of a pandemic-inflicted 2020. In 2022, the GGR rose to €12.9 billion, with the main contributions coming in via the two monopolies – Française des Jeux (FDJ) and Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) – and the online betting segment. FDJ and PMU generated €8.2 billion, as the segment made up almost 64 percent of the entire GGR. The total revenue generated by the monopolies last year was eight percent higher than the preceding year’s revenue.
The online gambling segment has been growing steadily since 2017, and the revenue seems to have stabilized around the €2 billion-mark. In 2022, the segment roped in €2.18 billion, which was 0.8 percent higher than that of 2021. 64 percent of the total segment revenue came via sports betting, which generated €1.38 billion. This was mainly caused due to the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar. However, it was still not as high as expected because the total revenue generated was only 2.5 percent higher than the digits of 2021. Record-high stakes worth €8.3 billion were recorded last year. Online poker generated 20 percent of the segment revenue, while horse race betting reeled in the remaining 16 percent.
ANJ issued seven warnings and a penalty earlier this year
The French market is flourishing as the ANJ is succeeding in keeping up with the latest standards to maintain the integrity of its gambling market. The regulator released new guidelines to boost player protection measures in the country. A couple of years before, an amendment was made to Article 13-II, and a new decree of Article 27 was introduced to the country’s Gambling Act. Under this amendment, a new return player cap (RTR) was introduced to reduce excessive gambling and discourage money laundering and other illicit activities. The cap ensured that no player got more than 85% redistributed to them from legal sports betting operators.
After the regulations went live, seven licensed operators exceeded the RTR cap. After a thorough study, it was discovered that six out of the seven guilty operators had exceeded the cap by less than ten points. Hence, they were let off the hook with a warning. The unnamed gambling operator was slapped with an undisclosed fine for exceeding the cap by more than ten points. If the other six operators exceed the RTR cap again and are still below ten points, they will be penalized because they have already been warned. The Sanctions Committee studied this case and decided against publicizing the names of the seven operators.
