French gambling regulator toughens up on unlicensed operators

Regulatory requirements for unlicensed operators have been scaled up by l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), the French gambling regulator in an effort to stop French consumers being approached illegally.

Blacklist

The online gambling market in France comprises of 17 independent licensed operators. There is also the French government’s national lottery operator Fran?aise des Jeux (FDH) which is another licensed as an operator.

A year ago in March, the Government of France granted ANJ the privilege to authorise delisting of IP blocking and website of unlicensed operators and affiliates in an effort to reduce the growing number of illegal gambling sites in the jurisdiction. As a result a blacklist of illegal gaming websites and portals was released by ANJ. These operators will be blocked and delisted and the outcome will provide a safer environment for the French public who wish to participate in gambling. Since June 2022 ANJ has been authorised by the French court to instruct internet service providers to block access of the gambling sites and affiliates promoting the services.

Apart from the affiliate websites and domains promoting unlicensed casinos that are blacklisted by AMJ, the following portals have been declared unauthorised and illegal.

• Campeonbet
• Casinoextra
• Dublinbet
• Kahuna Casino
• Winmachance,
• MyStake
• WinUnique
• VegasPlus
• YBet

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To date orders for a total of 152 websites and 532 URLs relating to illegal gambling and gaming content have been blocked. If an illegal operator or affiliate promoting an illegal operator or services is reported, the process to strike them off usually takes between one to two months prior to the site being blocked.

ANJ is running a national campaign to educate the French public about the harm that illegal websites can pose to players. ANJ’s educational marketing includes content about the risks of personal data theft, payment fraud and malicious software as well as the possibility of failure by some operators to pay winners.

The ANJ stated that no legal action can be supported in the instance of theses directives being ignored by the public, no legal recourse or support can be provided in the event of disputes between the parties.

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ANJ

ANJ is France’s gaming authority and is responsible for regulating sports betting and gambling. Regulation of online gaming was established in 2010. The Authority ensures compliance and issues licences for online gaming and betting.? It also protects the consumers and vulnerable communities. Every two months, the ANJ benefits from a procedure arranged by the Paris Judicial Court to request and almost always obtain the blocking of websites illegally offering gambling to French Internet users.

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