French regulator acts against unlicensed online gambling

The now three-year-old liberalised French online gambling market has not exactly proved a shining success story, with some experts suggesting that overly high taxation, limited player gaming options and a ring-fenced player pool have hindered full development and prompted some operators to hand in their licenses.

Although pragmatic execs on regulator ARJEL’s staff appear to recognise these truths and have tried to find ways to ameliorate their impact, French parliamentarians remain staunchly opposed to sharing player liquidity or, it appears, reducing taxes.

In the latest attempt to persuade French punters to eschew the often better promotional offers on unlicensed sites, ARJEL has launched its second “educational campaign” targeted on the French punter.

The message appears to rely on scare tactics, telling punters via an all-media campaign that they could end up losing badly by using unregulated sites.

In one ad. for example bemused gamblers wander around naked after being stripped of even their clothing by predatory and unregulated (at least in France) operators.

ARJEL justifies the campaign by saying:

“It is crucial to make players aware of the risks they take when playing on non-regulated operators,” adding that among the dangers players could face are payment problems, and theft of financial and personal ID information.

Whether this advertising-based tactic will succeed in turning the present decline into a soaring success remains to be seen, but there is a view that more practical strategies that address the root causes of lacklustre performance are needed to affect a real turnaround.

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