France Strengthens Safeguards in Gambling Ads under New ANJ Boss

France has strengthened the obligations of licensed operators when it comes to gambling advertising in the country, with the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), the country’s gambling watchdog, announcing new rules. ANJ Expects Gambling Companies to Submit Ads for Review 6 Months in Advance Pascal Chevremont, the regulator’s new president, has confirmed the rules after a meeting with Christine Albanel, president of the Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité, which independently oversees gambling ads in France, as part of an ongoing partnership that began in 2023. Under the new rules, gambling businesses that wish to launch an advertising push would have to submit their ads for review six months ahead of the actual release date so that the ANJ may review and potentially approve the campaign. The ARPP is providing the guidelines on which the review is based. The new regulatory framework that will guide gambling ads rules has been designed with the help of ANJ’s former boss, Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, and came after growing calls to do something about restricting gambling advertising in the country, amid fears that ads are pushing into gambling. Black Market Remains a Problem No Matter How Tight Gambling Ads Regulation Falque-Pierrotin has refused to administer a blanket ban on gambling advertising as critics have suggested, arguing that it would only serve to empower black market operators. Even today, offshore markets continue to pose a threat not just to France but to Europe as a whole. The Netherlands’ gambling regulator, the KSA, has openly said that the country is too small to deal with the issue of unlicensed gambling. Greece has been actively stepping up personnel and resources to ensure that it can begin to push back across jurisdictional borders when it comes to illegal gambling. While safer gambling ads probably mean fewer of those ads and more restricted ads, regulators, including the ANJ, remain aware of the even more challenging task of tackling the unregulated market.