France's ANJ tightens gambling ad rules: campaigns to be submitted for review six months ahead

France has tightened the obligations placed on licensed gambling operators when they advertise, the national regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has announced.

The rules were confirmed by Pascal Chevremont, the ANJ's new president, after a meeting with Christine Albanel, president of the Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP). The ARPP independently oversees gambling advertising in France, and its partnership with the ANJ has been running since 2023.

Under the new requirements, operators planning an advertising push must submit their material for review six months before the intended release date. This gives the ANJ time to assess the campaign and potentially approve it. The review is based on guidelines supplied by the ARPP.

The framework was developed with input from Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, the ANJ's former head. It follows growing calls for action on gambling advertising, amid concerns that ads are encouraging people to gamble. Falque-Pierrotin declined to introduce a blanket ban on gambling advertising, as some critics had urged, arguing that such a step would only strengthen black market operators.

The unlicensed market remains a concern well beyond France. The report notes that the Netherlands' regulator, the KSA, has said openly that the country is too small to tackle illegal gambling on its own, while Greece has been adding personnel and resources so that it can push back against illegal operators across jurisdictional borders. Offshore operators continue to pose a threat to Europe as a whole.

Safer advertising rules are likely to mean fewer and more restricted ads from licensed operators. Regulators including the ANJ say they are aware that tackling the unregulated market is an even harder task than controlling licensed promotion.