ANJ Acknowledges Real Progress in 2024 Activity Report

France’s National Gambling Authority (L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux, ANJ) has published its latest activity report, offering a detailed look at how the country’s gambling landscape has evolved five years after introducing big regulatory changes.

Licensed Operators Have Stepped Up 

In its 2024 report, the independent authority that reports to Parliament spoke about the genuine progress it has noticed from licensed operators in terms of tackling excessive gambling and fighting money laundering. 

“Substantial progress has been made by operators in meeting their obligations in terms of preventing excessive gambling and combating money laundering; these efforts are beginning to be measured in the action plans examined by the ANJ,” the agency said in a statement.

In April, the agency called for tighter collaboration between operators to address gambling harm and underage gambling issues. 

That said, enforcement is still a big part of the regulator’s work. In 2024 alone, the ANJ issued nine sanctions, including fines reaching up to €150,000 ($175,500). 

One particularly severe penalty came in January 2025, when a company was hit with an €800,000 ($936,000) fine for failing to prevent excessive gambling, a figure the ANJ called “an important signal to the entire market.”

The agency has also been ramping up its efforts to keep unlicensed sites out of reach. Last year, it blocked access to 1,335 illegal gambling sites and carried out 231 administrative actions. 

New measures, like restricting financial transactions to and from unlicensed operators, are also being put in place.

Good Results for the Self-Exclusion Program

At the same time, more people in France are taking steps to block themselves from gambling altogether. 

The number of people choosing to block themselves from gambling has more than doubled in just a few years, from around 40,000 in 2021 to 85,000 in 2024. With that sharp rise, France’s gambling regulator is now shifting gears and making problem gambling a top priority moving forward.

To kick off that effort, the ANJ is hosting a symposium at the French Senate on June 27, where key voices from across the industry will meet to shape its next steps through 2026.

Reflecting on the current state of the market, ANJ chair Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said:
“Driven by a very dynamic market that digitalisation has fostered, gambling, which is not a product like any other, has nevertheless become a product of everyday consumption.”

The chair further added that the objective of cutting down on excessive gambling should be “translated into an obligation of results” in the context of the battle against gambling addiction, requiring a global approach to the phenomenon.