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France fines gambling operator $572K over player protections
France’s gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has imposed a $572,000 penalty on an undisclosed licensed gambling operator over player protection failures, including inappropriate identification and support of users with problematic gambling behaviors.
The fine comes after the ANJ conducted an investigation into the activity of 30 players between October 2023 and March 2024, which revealed that the operator breached duty of care obligations, failed to identify at-risk players, and didn’t apply the necessary measures to stop the excessive gambling. According to the findings, 23 players were wrongly classified as low-risk, while 6 others were entirely missed.
The investigation process was led by the Sanctions Committee, which reviewed the players’ transactions relying on 7 criteria from the framework for preventing pathological gambling. The indicators include frequency of play, changes to the gambling control settings, self-exclusion statuses, deposit frequency, large lost deposits, high number of bets, and the number of accounts opened by each player.
The ANJ shared:
“The investigation revealed that the ANJ (National Gambling Authority) opened an administrative inquiry to verify Company X’s compliance with its obligation to identify and support individuals with excessive or pathological gambling. At the end of this investigation, the ANJ (French National Gambling Authority) concluded that company X had failed, during this period, in its obligation to identify individuals with excessive or pathological gambling and to support them in moderating their gambling.”
In response, the operator argued that French law doesn’t clearly define excessive or pathological gambling, meaning that it couldn’t have violated duty of care obligations. The company now has a two-month deadline to file an administrative appeal.
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