France's Gambling Regulator Renews Advertising Oversight Pact With Ad Watchdog

^{France's Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances in Paris, under whose remit the gambling regulator ANJ sits. (Photo: Alphotographic / Wikimedia Commons)}

France's gambling regulator, the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), and the advertising watchdog Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP) have renewed the cooperation agreement they first signed in 2023 to police gambling advertising, widening its scope to cover a new category of 'monetisable' online games.

ANJ president Pascal Chevremont and ARPP president Christine Albanel signed the renewed pact on 7 October 2026, the two regulators confirmed in a joint statement. It replaces the original three-year convention and keeps the same core arrangement in place: the ARPP remains the first point of contact for gambling operators submitting marketing campaigns for pre-approval, while the ANJ provides input when the ARPP has doubts about a campaign's compliance.

New Scope Covers JONUM and a Responsible Marketing Certificate

The renewed agreement brings JONUM, the ANJ's incoming regulatory framework for games offering monetisable digital objects, into the scope of the partnership for the first time. Neither regulator had previously included this emerging category, which covers games blurring the line between skill-based play and gambling, in their joint oversight arrangements.

Two further additions were confirmed in the statement. The ANJ will help strengthen the gambling-specific module of the ARPP's Responsible Commercial Influence Certificate, a scheme aimed at influencers and content creators who promote betting products. The ARPP will also take part in the ANJ's review of the four advertising charters covering television, radio, outdoor and digital advertising that the two regulators agreed in November 2022.

In their joint statement, the regulators said the renewal followed a very positive assessment of the original 2023 convention, noting that the ARPP had gone back to the ANJ for its analysis and opinion on several occasions since that agreement was signed, whenever it had doubts about whether a campaign complied with the rules.

Comes as Regulators Scrutinise Rising Ad Spend

The ANJ has been watching operator marketing budgets closely this year. In a separate review published in January, the regulator found that France's 17 licensed online operators and two exclusive-rights operators, FDJ and PMU, had submitted 2026 promotional strategies showing a combined 25% rise in planned spend, driven partly by the Winter Olympics and the football World Cup. That review followed a 15% tax on gambling marketing spend that took effect in July 2025, after which actual 2025 promotional investment came in 8% below operators' original forecasts.

The renewed convention does not itself introduce new financial obligations on operators. Instead, it formalises how two separate regulators, one overseeing gambling specifically and one overseeing advertising standards generally, will keep sharing information as France's broader gambling regulatory framework continues to evolve.

France's approach contrasts with jurisdictions moving toward outright prohibition. Lithuania, for one, is pressing ahead with its own incoming gambling advertising ban, despite warnings from within the industry about the legal challenges such a blanket measure could face.

Full details of the renewed convention are set out in the ANJ's own announcement. Neither regulator has said when the updated JONUM provisions will be formally applied to live advertising campaigns.