Steve Hoare

France’s gambling authority, the ANJ, has issued a €75,000 fine to a licensed online operator after repeated breaches of data archiving obligations.

Data archiving was introduced as a strict regulatory requirement in French law when the online gambling market was first opened to competition in 2010, and is designed to ensure transparency, integrity and player protection.

Over a period of 25 months between 2022 – 2024, the unnamed operator failed on two separate occasions to comply with the legal duty to archive customer gaming and player account data in real time, and to ensure its permanent availability to the ANJ.

These failures represented breaches of Articles 31 and 38 of the Law of 12 May 2010, and Articles 29 and 30 of the Decree of 19 May 2010.

A ‘warranted’ comeuppance
The first breach involved the operator failing to submit certain data on player bets which resulted in the exclusion of several million euros’ worth of bets from the hardware archiving system.

The second violation related to the provision of inaccurate data, which affected over 900,000 records.
According to the ANJ, by not respecting its obligations and by failing to ensure the “completeness and accuracy of the data to be contained in the safe of the hardware archiving system,” the operator obstructed key regulatory objectives outlined in Article L. 320-3 of the Internal Security Code.

These include: ensuring the integrity, reliability and transparency of gaming operations, identifying and supporting excessive or pathological players and enabling the ANJ to carry out its regulatory and supervisory role.

The ANJ added: “A failure in the transmission of this information also has a significant impact on the controls carried out by the ANJ, particularly concerning the control of the player return rate and the detection of pathological players.”

The sanctions committee determined that the duration and seriousness of the failings warranted the aforementioned €75,000 financial penalty.

ANJ continues to crack down on player protection throughout the French gambling market. In March this year, it handed out an even heftier fine of €800,000 fine to Unibet following a serious and prolonged malfunction in its self-exclusion system – a failure that allowed thousands of self-excluded users to regain access to gambling services.

The issue, which primarily affected iOS users, spanned nearly two years and marked the largest financial sanction issued by the ANJ since its formation in 2020 as the central authority for gambling oversight in France.

DGOJ, Spain’s Directorate General of Gambling maintains its principal objective to significantly tighten the surveillance of gambling activities and the monitoring of operator licences.

The message was reiterated during a plenary session with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, which retains overarching responsibility for the strategic governance of Spain’s gambling sector.

Hosted at the Ministry’s Madrid headquarters, the meeting convened national and regional representatives to align regulatory priorities for the remainder of 2025. The DGOJ reaffirmed its commitment to deepening federal oversight and harmonising consumer protection standards across Spain’s 17 Autonomous Communities.

At the heart of this strategy lies a set of forthcoming technical measures tied to the 2023 Royal Decree on safer gambling environments.

Key Projects include mandatory player risk assessments, automated interventions, and affordability checks. However, the DGOJ has yet to publish the final technical framework detailing how it will implement:

Real-time player monitoring
Centralised database for Under-24s customers
Mandatory messaging for at-risk users
A universal system of affordability thresholds and deposit/time limits

The absence of these specifications has left operators awaiting clarity on key compliance obligations.

Further updates were teased at the recent Gaming in Spain conference in June, where DGOJ Director General Mikel Arana confirmed that the regulator would soon publish its finalised behavioural algorithm.

The tool is designed to monitor customer interactions across platforms — particularly for vulnerable groups and individuals under the age of 24 — and flag early signs of problematic gambling behaviour.

In parallel, the plenary session approved the Gambling Policy Council’s annual report and discussed plans for enhanced inter-agency cooperation. Stakeholders reviewed forthcoming decrees that will expand the DGOJ’s powers of inspection, sanction, and market surveillance.

Information transparency also featured prominently on the agenda, with the DGOJ preparing to launch new public-facing datasets and campaigns targeting students, families, and at-risk communities.

Closing the meeting, the DGOJ reaffirmed its intent to pursue a regulatory model that balances the commercial sustainability of the market with robust consumer protections and the broader public interest. The session concluded with a consensus to maintain tight coordination between the federal government and Spain’s regional authorities as further legislative instruments are rolled out.

Yesterday, a panel of community stakeholders declared full support for Croatia’s plans to overhaul its gambling laws and create a new regulatory regime to govern and tax gambling.

State Secretary Tereza Rogić Lugarić hosted a press conference with representatives of Croatian business, media, education and healthcare to encourage a wider participation in the government’s forthcoming overhaul gambling laws.

Of significance, hosted under the banner of “Fun in moderation – what you need to know about gambling” – stakeholders confirmed that they would cooperate in establishing a “National Strategy for the Prevention of Gambling Addiction to 2030.”

The gathering marked the launch of a far-reaching legislative effort, authorised by the Sabor (Parliament) in March. A mandate viewed as an executive intervention by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. now in his third term, to make gambling reform a centrepiece of the HDZ government’s agenda.

The Plenković pledge
Following wide-spread criticism, many view this as the HDZ government’s admission of its systemic failure to protect 40,000 Croats from gambling-related disorders, a figure that rises alarmingly when one considers the younger population.

Research from the Croatian Institute of Public Health reveals that 73% of high school students have gambled at least once, with 13% already exhibiting signs of harmful behaviour.

Plenković’s government aims to arrest this trend with a strategy that is both legislative and cultural. The new gambling law, to be fully enforced by early 2026, introduces mandatory player identification for all gambling participation — whether online or in-person — and establishes a national self-exclusion register to protect vulnerable individuals.

Venues such as cafes and restaurants will be prohibited from hosting self-service betting terminals. Municipalities will be ordered to review the location of gambling establishments, which must now maintain minimum distances from schools and religious buildings. The government estimates that 50% to 60% of betting shops may be forced to relocate or shut down altogether.

Gambling advertising will be banned from television, radio and online platforms between 6am and 11pm. Promotions featuring celebrities, athletes, or influencers will be outlawed entirely. Print and outdoor advertising will likewise be curtailed. Digital operators will be held accountable for preventing underage exposure to gambling content.

State Secretary Rogić Lugarić was forthright in her rationale: “Technological progress has made gambling just too accessible. These measures are designed to reassert the boundaries of conduct and responsibility of gambling.”

However, yesterday stakeholders announced that gambling reforms would not simply be contained to policies. Cooperation is needed to launch a new National Strategy for the Prevention of Gambling Addiction 2030.

Gambling reforms take on civic duties
A five-year mandate that for the first time treats gambling harm as a behavioural health issue with social, economic and psychological dimensions. The strategy, developed in coordination with the Ministry of Health, the Croatian Institute of Public Health, and academic experts, outlines a comprehensive public health response.

It prioritises mental health support, early intervention in schools, media literacy, and international cooperation. “This is not a public relations exercise,” said Marko Babić of Hrvatska Lutrija.

“We are part of a European project, alongside the Council of Europe and nine member states, to study youth mental health and reduce high-risk behaviours such as gambling.”

The conversation also touched on the wider implications of the digital economy. Professor Predrag Pale, speaking on behalf of the education sector, warned of the collapsing attention spans among youth — a trend he believes makes them more susceptible to rapid-reward mechanisms like betting and gaming.

“Children today have access to everything, but are engaged by nothing,” he noted. “We are still teaching with 20th-century methods, while they are living in a hyper-connected 21st-century reality.”

The reforms coincide with the introduction of a progressive new tax regime. The current flat tax model, in place since 2010, will be replaced by a tiered system on player winnings, ranging from 10% on sums under €1,500 to 30% on those above €70,000. Licensing fees will rise sharply: land-based casinos will pay €600,000 annually (up from €400,000), while online operators and betting shops will see similar increases.

The state anticipates an additional €50–70m in annual revenue, with at least 11% ring-fenced for addiction treatment and prevention. The remainder will fund education, civil society initiatives, and healthcare.

Not everyone is convinced by the mandate. The Croatian Association of Gambling Operators (HUBPS) and the European trade group EUROMAT have warned that the reforms could jeopardise as many as 15,000 jobs and disproportionately affect small operators.

Ozren Kronja, representing Croatian digital publishers, voiced concern that the government’s heavy-handed approach might backfire.

“While Croatian media are being strangled with restrictions, Big Tech platforms are left to self-regulate,” he said. “The unintended consequence may be to push gambling adverts further into unlicensed, untraceable channels. We’ve seen this in Italy, where illegal digital casinos proliferated despite stringent laws.”

Balkan eyes on Croatia
Nonetheless, the government appears resolute. A new regulatory authority will be established to monitor compliance, oversee licensing, and enforce penalties. Operators that fall short of new standards risk fines and the revocation of their permits.

The Ministry of Finance has already trialled automated keyword-based detection to block access to illegal gambling sites. Now, it intends to go further by compelling payment providers to halt transactions to unauthorised operators.

The HDZ government has committed to a “calculated bet” on restructuring Croatia’s gambling sector, recognising the high stakes involved in achieving a balanced regulatory framework that serves all stakeholders.

Progress in Croatia is widely seen as a potential inflection point for gambling reform across the Balkans, where countries like Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia face similar failures and liabilities. As such, Croatia’s legislative trajectory warrants close attention from industry observers across the region.

The Bulgarian sector has come out against government plans to introduce a number of restrictions on online gambling.

While agreeing that such conversations are a right step towards better player protection, a number of industry organisations came forward to deem the draft text ‘unviable’ in its current form as it limits player freedoms.

What’s the fuss about?
Last month, two of Bulgaria’s Ministries came out with a proposal to tighten controls around consumer engagement with the sector. Despite it placing the well being of players at the centre, however, another glance at the measures makes it clear why they might’ve come across as rushed by some.

For one, mandatory time limits would see individual game sessions being restricted to a maximum of four hours for over-24s, and two hours for everyone under that age. So far, so good. The texts however do not clarify whether these limits per 24 hours, or per session start.

Critics have pointed out that in its current form, the draft allows for players to reach the 3:59 hours mark, log out, log in again, and continue for another four hours – with amendments needed to address this loophole.

A more serious issue is the proposed mandatory exclusion of players. The text envisions a maximum loss limit within a 24-hour window that would be set by the player itself.

Subsequently, if the customer reaches 100% of that limit within that period, operators would be required to place that customer on the self-exclusion registry for seven days.

Industry feedback has highlighted this as problematic for two main reasons. First, this would constitute a breach of freedom rights outlined within the Bulgarian constitution. Secondly, if a customer has their access to legal options forcefully revoked, the risk of turning to the black market increases significantly.

And lastly, but perhaps the biggest head scratcher, is the proposed cap on online wagers. The brief, which as a reminder was approved by two Ministries, wants to set a 24-hour wagering limit of a maximum of 20 average monthly salaries – amounting to thousands of Euros.

This is certainly a precedent in the whole of Europe, and does not accurately reflect the economic landscape in Bulgaria – the poorest country in the EU.

Industry is baffled
Since the consultation’s deadline expired on 5 July, several industry organisations have provided detailed feedback – pointing out what is wrong with the draft while leveraging their expertise to recommend amendments to the proposal.

Association of the Gaming Industry in Bulgaria (AGIB)
In its statement, AGIB noted that the draft fails to introduce a centralised system that would simplify the implementation of player session limits and wagering caps. Currently, this is left as the sole responsibility of individual operators.

“This means that a participant who has reached their limits with one operator can immediately continue playing with another licensed operator,” the statement read.

Furthermore, it recommended clear indication that session limits are tied to the active participation of customers with a game, rather than to activity not considered as ‘playing’, i.e. logging in and out of an account.

On the above, AGIB also suggested that session limits should not be overarching, but tailored to specific types of play, bringing a distinction between online gambling and sports betting for example.

The body also believes that the forceful exclusion of players by private companies is an infringement on citizens’ “freedom of personal choice and economic freedom”, and that the matter should be handled by the regulator instead.

Bulgarian Gaming Association (BGA) and Association of Organisers of Gambling Games and Activities in Bulgaria (AOGGAB)
BGA and AOGGAB warned of an increased black market prominence if wagering and play limits are introduced by the government.

“Experience in all European markets…shows that mandatory restrictions on gaming on licensed betting sites do not lead to restrictions on the players’ gaming and limiting the risks for them, but redirect them to freely accessible unlicensed sites.”

Various reports were cited from international trade bodies like the EGBA and national ones like the Netherlands’ NOGA, as well as national regulators like Sweden’s Spillemyndigheden, highlighting that the black market has overtaken legal alternatives in market share across Europe.

“As a result of the restrictive regulations, the money of citizens in the Republic of Bulgaria, instead of being spent on entertainment on the regulated, protected licensed market, will flow to Curacao, Panama, the Philippines and other offshore zones, where illegal online gambling providers are most often located.”

Both NGOs also claimed a breach in EU law, as all listed technical requirements will affect companies headquartered in other European jurisdictions. Therefore, the draft needs to be approved by the European Commission.

State monopoly talks
Another proposal was recently submitted by the far-right political party MECH to introduce a monopoly on gambling under the state-owned Bulgarian Sport Totalizator (BST).

Speaking to the media, party leader Radostin Vasilev said that he views direct state intervention as the only viable solution to an effective control on gambling.

MECH is currently in opposition to the coalition government and has a small number of MPs, which will slow down any momentum for support behind their bill.