France’s online gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has signed a three-year agreement with the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), in order to develop its understanding of the drivers of gambling behaviour and addiction.
The partnership was signed by Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, president of the ANJ, and Julien Morel D’Arleux, director of the OFDT, and aims to improve the prevention of excessive or pathological gambling, as well as increasing the protection of minors.
The agreement covers three particular areas; to ensure donations are made by gambling companies to the financing of scientific studies on gambling and addiction, to share experience between the organisations in order to provide studies and research around recreational gambling, and to share data and knowledge relating to ADHD and the mechanisms associated with addiction.
These objectives will serve to provide ANJ with a clearer understanding of the different elements of problem gambling, in order to help it develop a sustainable market of recreational players.
The framework agreement also aims to define an action plan shared between the two organisations for the fiscal years 2021 and 2022, which will allow high-priority work to be carried out to strengthen gambling regulation and the robustness of ANJ’s decisions, the regulator said.
ANJ said it may where necessary involve the OFDT in its work and, in particular, invite it to participate in the work of the advisory committee on the prevention of excessive gambling.
In December last year, the ANJ formed a partnership with l’Union nationale des associations familiales (UNAF), with a view to helping protect children and young people in the country from gambling-related harm.
