ANJ launches new group to examine sports partnerships with gambling operators
Group formation is due to the growth in the sports betting sector and the number of major sporting events scheduled in the coming years
The French National Gaming Authority (ANJ) has launched a new group to tackle the ever-growing area of gambling sponsors in sport and aims to define how the partnerships should be implemented.
The group has been in the works for a few months now, as back in February the ANJ “recalled” contracts for partnerships and sponsorships are within the heading of commercial communications.
As a result, they must abide by the regulations governing commercial communications.
On the back of this, the regulator announced that it would begin work on formulating a “dedicated work group” that would operate in conjunction with the Ministry of Sports but would be under the banner of the ANJ.
This speedy setup is due to the strong growth in the sports betting sector and the number of major international competitions that will take place over the next few years.
These include the FIFA World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2022, the Rugby World Cup in France in 2023 and the Paris Olympics in 2024.
The group has the primary objective of establishing clear rules for partnership and sponsorship contracts with gambling operators before the World Cup starts in November.
It hopes to achieve this by clearly defining the rules that apply to partnerships to best protect those most at risk and by setting out the best practice for implementing these partnerships.
There will be “bilateral exchanges” set up over the summer by the ANJ, with roundtables scheduled for September.
These will focus on the “prevention of excessive gambling and the protection of minors in partnership contracts, the sponsorship of gambling operators in professional and high-level sport, as well as the place of sponsorship in traditional media and social media.”
Once the roundtables have taken place, the initial conclusions will be defined, according to the regulator.
The ANJ added: “All dimensions of sponsorship will be taken into account, from flocked jerseys to the naming of competitions, including sponsorship of programmes on radio, television or even on streaming sites.”