The French gambling regulator wants operators to “significantly moderate” their promotional activity as an examination of their 2024 strategies revealed a heavy focus on the Paris Olympics and Euro 2024.
L'Autorité Nationale des Jeux’s analysis of operators’ plans showed that companies plan to commit to a €670m spend throughout the year, 30 per cent of which will be invested between May and July.
The probe into the plans of the 16 approved online operators and monopoly operators FDJ and PMU said promotional investments are expected to increase by 14 per cent from 2023.
Forty-six per cent of media investments will be made on digital channels, the ANJ said, with TV and sports sponsorship investments accounting for 26 per cent and 15 per cent of spend, respectively.
The ANJ’s analysis found that operators aim to engage 4.9 million new players in 2024, which would translate to a nine per cent increase compared with 2023.
The Olympics in the French capital will be preceded by the football European Championships in Germany, where France will be among the favourites having reached the 2022 World Cup final.
The ANJ said operators should “significantly moderate their promotional strategy in order not to exert excessive advertising pressure on all the different existing media supports, particularly during the period of Euro 2024 and that of the Paris Olympic Games.”
It added operators should “adopt moderate use of the most incentive promotional tools, in particular for offers involving an increased risk of problem gambling (notably quick poker tournaments, live bets and high odds bets).”
And it called for companies to “ensure, on the one hand, that financial rewards intended to recruit or retain players remain moderate and understandable to the public and, on the other hand, not to offer these rewards to players that it identifies as potentially excessive or pathological.”
The ANJ did partially reject WINAMAX’s promotional strategy with regard to bonuses and financial rewards.
It said the operator’s plans pose a “significant risk of intensification of gambling practices, this risk being exacerbated among the most fragile players.”
It has called on WINAMAX to submit a new approval request for this part of its strategy by no later than February 15.
