The French gambling regulator, Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), has fined an unnamed online betting operator €500,000 for failing to properly identify high-risk players. The sanction was announced on Thursday following an investigation into the company's data management practices between October 2023 and March 2024.
The inquiry focused on account data stored in the operator's secured data vault. Regulators identified 30 players with the highest risk profiles using a scoring system based on deposit frequency, betting intensity, and loss patterns. Of these, 29 were central to formal grievances, with six players missed entirely and 23 misclassified at a lower risk tier.
The operator also failed to provide adequate support interventions for 25 of these individuals.
Financial Impact and Legal Basis
During the inspection period, the combined net losses for the 29 identified players totaled €683,355, while the operator recorded net gains of €190,501.86. The sanctions commission based its ruling on the 12 May 2010 gambling law and the Code de la sécurité intérieure, which mandate licensed operators to detect excessive gambling behavior.
Additionally, the decision referenced the ministerial cadre de référence of 9 April 2021, which outlines expected indicators for risk detection.
The operator contested the investigation, arguing that French law lacks a statutory definition of "pathological" gambling. However, the commission maintained that detecting risky behavior and providing support are distinct, independently enforceable duties. Looking ahead, the ANJ recently unveiled a newly developed algorithm in May designed to identify a larger number of likely problem gamblers across online and in-play platforms.