French regulator unveils lockdown player risks in new survey

Added: March 23, 2021

L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has released its brand new ‘Gambling and Confinement’ survey which mainly focuses on the analysis of gambling behaviors that players may exhibit or have already exhibited during the country’s second lockdown.

This new survey was conducted by Harris Interactive, an agency specializing in market research, and makes up part of ANJ’s new scope in offering a more in-depth view of the way gambling currently works in France. The regulator also stated that this survey was conducted to evaluate the effects that being in lockdown has when it comes to a change in player behaviour.

The report was initiated back in December of last year, and the French regulator evaluated 3,013 online players who gambled throughout the year of 2020, who were divided into categories based on sex, age-group, career and area. Roughly 75% of those who were surveyed said that they gambled during the second lockdown, and 80% of those gambled online.

Concerning what the report classified as a motive for gambling, 57% of the players said they wanted to make money, and the other 43% said that it was just a habit. Of all those who had undertaken the survey, 19% said that they wished to lessen or change their daily gambling patterns.

The report also revealed that 5% of players had never tried gambling until the second lockdown came into effect. Regarding new gamblers, the survey noted that 13% were aged between 18 and 24 and had become interested in online poker and sports wagering. They were mainly encouraged to do so since they had more free time (22%), as well as the wish to get rid of boredom (22%). It was also unveiled that 21% of the new players would stop gambling when the lockdown is lifted this year.

Aside from that, it was also clear that 1 in every 10 players that were surveyed said that they were not able to keep control over their gambling, and the regulator underlined the ‘inequality of activities’ since 52% said that casinos could sometimes be unbearable.

Lastly, ANJ also pointed out the concerns over younger players and their ability to control their gambling habits since 16% of 18-24 and 14% of 25-34 year olds felt as if they lost total control over their gambling habits in the second lockdown.

The ANJ said:

“The confinement has favoured the arrival of new players to online practices which seem riskier in terms of addiction, or even to online casino sites which are illegal in France. The ANJ therefore wishes to activate various levers to strengthen the methods of combating this illegal offer which presents very strong risks of addiction and endangers the player. In an unprecedented context that could lead to the loss of benchmarks, it also intends to educate young players so that they adopt a recreational practice of sports betting. “

France, iGaming, L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux