SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, State Councillor for France’s ‘National Commission for Data Protections’, has announced that her department will soon unveil its new government structure managing regulatory oversight of French gambling.
Regarded as France’s leading civil servant on digital enterprise and consumer ethics, last October the En Marche government appointed Falque-Pierrotin to spearhead the development of L’autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) – French gambling’s new regulatory body.
In her remit, Falque-Pierrotin has been tasked with developing a new French gambling authority which will absorb the responsibilities of regulatory incumbents the French Treasury (land-based gaming), ARJEL (online gambling) and the Department of Agriculture (horseracing).
Issuing an update, Falque-Pierrotin department detailed that ANJ had begun its takeover of ARJEL responsibilities, with the new authority aiming to be officially launched by spring 2020.
Once established, Falque-Pierrotin will be retained as first President of the ANJ monitoring a unified French gambling sector.
In 2018, France’s Senate ordered a restructuring of gambling’s regulatory frameworks as a requisite for allowing En Marche to sell lottery operator Francaise des Jeux (FDJ), floating the state asset on the Paris EuroNext Exchange last November. securing the government a €2 billion windfall.
France’s Upper House had deemed that the nation’s gambling laws had been disrupted by a fragmented framework, which saw licensed incumbents frustrated by adhering to ‘double guardianship’ requirements set by separate regulatory authorities.
Despite the restructuring, the French Treasury has maintained that it will continue its oversight of certain tax requirements related to land-based casino licensing.
