France’s ANJ to Set a Working Group to Oversee Sports Partnership Rules

L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), France’s gambling regulator, has launched a working group that will be in charge of putting clear sports partnership rules. These sponsorship contract guidelines are set to be introduced ahead of the highly anticipated World Cup in Qatar, which will last from November 21 to December 18, 2022. 

ANJ Reviewed Marketing Campaigns of Operators in February This Year 

Back in February 2022, ANJ completed its second annual review of marketing strategies and activities that were planned by operators for 2022 and warned them that they weren’t doing enough to de-intensify gambling advertising. 

Shortly before the review took place, ANJ announced that it will be cracking down on advertising as it considered the market to have been oversaturated in 2021, mostly because of the Euro 2020. 

Additionally, ANJ now claims that the partnership contract stakes are very important, especially because sports betting is on the rise and a lot of events to which people are prone to placing bets, are upcoming. That includes the World Cup, the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which will take place in France, as well as the Summer Olympics, which will also take place in France in 2024. 

The regulator noted that “all dimensions of sponsorship” will be taken into consideration. That includes radio program sponsorships, TV sponsorship, and sponsorships on streaming platforms. 

ANJ’s Working Group Will Have Two Functions 

The working group, which was announced by ANJ, will have two primary functions. First, it will have to define partnership contract rules and then, it will highlight the best practices through which these partnership contracts can be implemented. 

Moreover, the regulator will organize bilateral exchanges during summertime and roundtables will be organized in September. These events will focus on preventing excessive gambling and protecting minors in partnership contracts. When these roundtables end, the working group will come up with a conclusion before the World Cup. 

Back in February, ANJ expressed its concern that underage gambling is on the rise. Research led by SEDAP questioned 5,000 minors between the age of 15 and 17 and concluded that 35% have taken part in some form of sports betting in 2021. 

The numbers were even more worrying when the lottery was taken into consideration. The research concluded that 78% of the youth in France have bought a scratch ticket at least once in 2021, whereas almost half (48%) have participated in the national lottery. In terms of whether they prefer to bet online or at retail places, 50% opted for online and 50% opted for retail betting. 

Finally, the survey noted that the youth actually has an easy time going around the rules as 45% of the surveyed actually placed bets online via the accounts from their parents. As a way to better regulate the market, ANJ announced in March that it will be blocking illegal websites in the country.