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France’s National Gaming Authority (ANJ) has announced the launch of a new safer gambling campaign in time for the kickoff of the European Football Championship.
The initiative is a result of the pervasiveness of sports betting during the last Euros championship, speared on by the popularity of France’s 2018 World Cup-winning team.
ANJ president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said in a statement: “Since the excesses of the Euros in 2021, gambling operators have become aware of their responsibilities in the fight against excessive gambling and have adjusted their practices. This positive dynamic must continue during the Euros and the Olympic Games and the ANJ will be vigilant on the actual practices of each.”
In the immediate aftermath of the previous Euros in July 2021, the ANJ told sports-betting operators that they needed to “drastically and immediately reduce the pressure” of gambling ads, citing “questionable practices” such as advertising to young people.
“A line was crossed in terms of advertising pressure during this competition, and it is likely to lead to questions about the regulatory model put in place for the next ten years,” the ANJ said at the time.
The new campaign features very small print at the top which gets larger as the script goes on, which becomes more legible as it describes a descent into addiction. It reads in part: “The addiction quickly took control of my whole life. I spent hours analyzing and tracking the stats, then one day I really lost it.”
The final image reads in large bold letters, “2 lines at the bottom of an ad will never be enough to describe the spiral of addiction to sports betting”.
In the creation of the campaign, the ANJ employed Toluna-Harris Interactive to poll the public, and according to the results, more than half of France intends to watch the Euros (55 percent), and more than a third (35 percent) will be placing bets. Of those who said they plan to wager, 44 percent are under the age of 35.
The poll surveyed 1,070 people in mid-May aged 18 and over.
ANJ communications director Elsa Torchet-Macé told Vixio GamblingCompliance that the campaign is geared towards young bettors. “That’s the reason why it will be available on Snapchat and also digital radio and streaming platforms.”
