l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), France’s unified gambling regulator, has ordered operators to prioritise reducing their percentage share of gross gaming revenues (GGR) generated from ‘problematic players’.

The initiative was called upon by ANJ’s board following its review of action plans on the “prevention of excessive or pathological gambling” submitted by licensees in 2022.

Problematic gambling is recognised as “French gambling’s most significant risk”. ANJ cited figures by market monitor L’Observatoire des Jeux, which estimated that in 2020 French gambling had recorded “1.4 million gamblers at risk, including nearly 400,000 that are classified at a pathological level”.

L’Observatoire des Jeux believes that “the share of (GGR) Gaming Revenue attributable to problem gamblers represented 38.3% in 2019, including 20.7% for problem gamblers”.