France’s ANJ weighs betting advertising restrictions
Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin (pictured above), President of France’s gambling regulator, ANJ, unveiled a series of ambitious proposals on betting and advertising during her closing speech at the recent ‘Rencontres de l’ANJ’ held at the Palais du Luxembourg. The event, themed “Addiction to Gambling: A Major Collective Challenge,” brought together policymakers, researchers, and industry players in an attempt to address concerns over gambling addiction.
Falque-Pierrotin proposed “a whistle-to-whistle ban”, a policy that would outlaw gambling ads five minutes before, during, and five minutes after sports matches. “We need less aggressive advertising,” she said. The French gambling industry has seen advertising expenditures surge by 11% in 2025 despite no major sporting events on the calendar, she added.
Beyond restrictions on advertising, she advocates for a cultural change: “Repositioning gambling as part of the entertainment economy means collectively dismantling the myth of easy money.”
Discrepancies in numbers: understanding addiction
argued that a transformation of the French gambling model is necessary: “We cannot pivot our model without a massive identification effort commensurate with the public health issues at stake.” Her comments referenced the disparity between operator-reported figures and public health data. While gambling companies report identifying roughly 30,000 problem gamblers, France’s drug and addiction observatory, the OFDT, estimates the number closer to 370,000, “a ratio of one to twelve,” she pointed out.
To bridge that gap, the ANJ (Autorité Nationale des Jeux) has developed a proprietary algorithm designed to detect problem gambling behaviour, a tool she called “innovative” and said would be scientifically validated and rolled out to operators by 2026.
Funding research and data collection in France
One of Falque-Pierrotin’s more structural proposals involved improving the legal mechanism that funds research on gambling addiction. Currently capped at around €600,000 annually, the fund, she argued, is insufficient. “We need to better understand and document the risks associated with gambling practices in all their dimensions,” she said, citing concerns such as the rise of JONUM (new forms of gambling), the social costs of gambling, and the psychological impacts of promotional bonuses.
Betting shops and 바카라s under the lens
Falque-Pierrotin called out physical gaming venues, 바카라s and retail betting shops, for lagging in responsible gambling efforts. “The retail network, which accounts for nearly 80% of gambling practices, must carry the same identification burden,” she declared.
To that end, she outlined pilot schemes requiring ID verification at points of sale and proposed a “player card or age-verification QR code” system, inspired by Nordic models, to better control consumption. However, she warned that such systems must be used solely to protect consumers, not for “stimulating demand through personalised marketing, which could be supercharged by new uses of AI, a threat to our public health goals.”
Compliance and enforcement to be stepped up, says ANJ
Falque-Pierrotin confirmed that “a dozen inspections” on player protection measures would be carried out in 2025. She added: “We plan to strengthen this repressive dimension in 2026 because it is essential to show that regulation matters.”
The ANJ is not only relying on voluntary compliance but will lean on sanctions to enforce its agenda. Already, the regulator has fined operators. Unibet, for instance, was hit with an €800,000 penalty for failure in self-exclusion measures.
Toward a French model of sustainable gambling
Falque-Pierrotin also called for “a stricter framework for sponsorship” and protections targeted at young adults, including “loss-limit tools for 18-25-year-olds.” These measures, including potential sports betting advertising restrictions, would form part of a new legislative package the ANJ plans to recommend, positioning France as a potential model for sustainable gambling regulation in Europe.
“We are seeing a more marked legislative hardening in countries like Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and even the UK,” Falque-Pierrotin noted during a Senate Finance Committee hearing two days earlier. These countries have adopted strict limits on online slot machines, advertising, and, particularly, sponsorship.
Yet, Falque-Pierrotin dismissed concerns that such restrictions might hurt the industry: “According to Spanish authorities, the banning of sponsorship and advertising has not hindered market growth.”
Balancing act
While aiming for stricter regulation, the ANJ faces the challenge of preserving a highly taxed domestic industry. France’s gambling taxes, which amount to €7 billion, half the sector’s revenue, are among the highest in Europe.
To resolve this contradiction, Falque-Pierrotin floated a “polluter-pays” principle in taxation: “Operators who truly invest in preventing problem gambling and in moderating risky practices should see their tax burden reduced.” However, she warned against fiscal “scattershot” approaches that disproportionately impact smaller operators.
