iGamingExpert

France’s sports betting licence holders have been warned over their advertising and marketing conduct ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The alert comes from the Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), as French authorities prepare for a World Cup that is set to be the most heavily engaged with amongst domestic audiences across television, digital media and betting platforms.

With France entering the tournament as one of the favourites, the regulator believes betting activity could surpass the record €900m wagered during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The ANJ estimates that total betting stakes could reach as much as €1.2bn, depending on the progress of Didier Deschamps’ side.

As France’s gambling regulator, the ANJ has reviewed the World Cup advertising plans of 18 licensed online sportsbooks to ensure that promotional messaging remains compliant and does not encourage excessive gambling behaviour.

In its latest consumer study, the regulator identified signs of growing betting appetite am..

FDJ United has provided an alternative solution to the advertising ban being proposed in the Netherlands, which it warned would embolden the country’s black market.

Speaking at Gaming in Holland, the company’s Chief Online Betting and Gaming Officer, Pascal Chaffard, said that while he understands the political logic behind the proposals, any changes must be ‘founded in evidence’.

He said: “Targeted restrictions tied to compliance standards would achieve the same consumer protection goal without driving players to the unrelegated market where there is no protection at all.

“The paradox we are faced with is that Europe’s most consumer protection-conscious markets, through their own set of measures, does the most damage to consumer protection.

“Every restrictive measure aimed at licensed operators that does not simultaneously address illegal operators makes the problem worse. The advertising ban, as currently proposed, risks accelerating the risk shift to illegal operators that ever..

The Greek government is set to take a new approach to tackling unlicensed gaming, enabling a far more extensive strategy from the Hellenic Gaming Commission (EEEP).

Key to the new roadmap is tapping into AI surveillance and DNS filtering as the gaming regulator looks to tap into strengthened collaboration with the Bank of Greece.

It comes at a time when black market size estimates are drifting around €1.6bn–€1.7bn, triggering urgency from the Greek government to embolden the regulator to enhance its action against the surging issue.

Furthermore, it was a pledge at the start of the year from Greek Economic Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, who emphasised he would fast-track action to tackle the issue, which costs Greece around €600m in tax revenue.

Underpinning the threat, the economic minister detailed that almost 10% of the population had engaged with the black market sector in some form, revealing just how significant the market exposure of unlicensed operators is.

According to r..

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) is backing the European standard on markers of harm in gambling publication from the national standardisation bodies of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN).

Support has been given to the standard, described by the trade association as ‘an important voluntary baseline for identifying risky gambling behaviour’, establishing a strong European consumer protection baseline with its members committed to standard alignment.

The standard received approval from national standardisation bodies in October 2025, while Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of EGBA, has described it as an ‘important milestone’ and said it will help ‘raise the bar on player protection across Europe’.

The association says the standard is ‘the first of its kind in the gambling industry’ and the organisation has been actively involved in its development since proposing it to CEN in 2022, working closely with operators, national authorities, academics and oth..