Autorité Nationale des Jeux, France’s gambling authority, has approved most of the country’s operators’ promotional strategies for 2024, only partially rejecting the promotional strategy of online poker operator Winamax in relation to bonuses and financial rewards.
Operators must submit their promotional strategy every year to the ANJ for approval, in which the authority examines its compatibility with state gambling policy, specifically its prevention of problem gambling and protection of minors.
In total, the ANJ analysed the promotional strategies of 16 approved online operators and two operators – La Française Des Jeux and Pari Mutuel Urbain – under exclusive rights.
Most operators will be utilising the year’s sporting events of the European Championships and the Olympic Games to retain players.
€670m will be spent by operators on promotions, up 14 per cent in comparison to 2023, and 30 per cent of this amount will be focused on the aforementioned sporting events from May to July.
Digital channels will have the most media investment at 46 per cent, followed by TV at 26 per cent and 15 per cent on sports sponsorships.
Marketing investments will primarily focus on financial rewards such as bonus offers with 59 per cent of spend, with five operators accounting for 82 per cent of all spending in this category.
Operators are also targeting to acquire 4.9 million new players in 2024, which would be a nine per cent increase on the previous year.
While operators’ promotional strategies for the year were approved, the ANJ did note that some will need to monitor their strategies so there’s not excessive advertising pressure on existing media support, especially during the Euros and the Olympics.
Some were also told to adopt moderate use of incentive promotional tools, especially those that could increase the risk of problem gambling, as well as make sure bonus offers are moderate, understandable and not offered to vulnerable players.
In addition, the ANJ stated that it has partially rejected the promotional strategy of Winamax in regard to bonuses and financial rewards.
The authority stated that it considers that “the company’s strategy presents, taking into account the considerable volume of financial rewards envisaged, their permanent distribution with each gaming action and the fact that they can be converted into bet or poker, a significant risk of intensification of gambling practices, this risk being exacerbated among the most fragile players”.
Winamax has until February 15 to submit a new request file regarding commercial offers involving financial rewards.
