The Promotional Strategy of La Française des Jeux Rejected by the Regulator

The ANJ, which annually approves the promotional strategies of companies active in the gambling sector, rejected only that of the FDJ, and approved 18 others.

These approval decisions were accompanied by stringent conditions to reduce “advertising pressure” and strengthen the protection of minors and vulnerable people.

Heir to the national lottery, the FDJ has retained its monopoly, a status imposing on it a “demanding” legal framework, implying that its promotional policy “remains measured and limited”, recalls the ANJ.

These promotions must therefore “above all consist in informing their potential customers” of the existence of the offer, but not in “actively stimulating them ” and encouraging the practice of gambling, explains the regulator.

However, the ANJ noted that the FDJ had planned, throughout the year, a “very significant” number of campaigns maintaining a “significant and continuous” advertising exposure of the public.

As for its lottery offer, the FDJ is demonstrating an “offensive promotion strategy“, according to the regulator.

In particular, the use of influence, the highlighting of jackpots or even “catchy slogans” pose difficulties.

The regulatory authority also points to a “significant” part of its strategy focused on “the group’s societal contribution“, which could ultimately create a “direct link between the consumption” of games and a cause of general interest, and ultimately “trivialize or generalize the practice of the game“.

In 2022, the ANJ had already expressed reservations about the group’s strategy, reservations to which the gambling juggernaut “only partially responded“, she says.

The FDJ now has a maximum period of one month to file a new request for approval of its promotional strategy, which specifies the authority.

In the coming months, the ANJ could propose “additional measures” to the public authorities “to strengthen the supervision of advertising” for gambling.

The continuous presence of campaigns is one of the points of vigilance common to gambling operators pointed out by the ANJ, because they “tend to include gambling in the daily life of the French“, as a product of current consumption.