By: Adrian Kingsley
Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin steps down as head of France’s ANJ on June 15. Her exit interview with SBC’s Jake Pollard pulls no punches on a quiet regulatory failure. Gambling has seeped into everyday youth digital culture, framed as a casual low-risk pastime. Most European regulators did not address this slow normalisation until it was already well established.
ANJ launched in 2020 to unify all French gambling oversight under one body. It replaced scattered ministry control for horseracing, land-based casinos and lotteries. Falque-Pierrotin also led the European GREF regulator network until last year. She helped align cross-border best practices, even without formal EU-level legal harmonisation. Official ANJ data shows French operators have improved ad compliance and player protection significantly since 2020.
The official progress narrative ignores two critical unaddressed problems. First, the 15% marketing tax introduced last July hits small operators hardest. Falque-Pierrotin has publicly warned lawmakers against further tax hikes this year. Her 2024 comment that gambling taxes were “not illegitimate” was not a personal endorsement. It was a required show of support for sitting government policy. Second, the tax exemption for sports sponsorship will push operators to flood football kits with betting ads, defeating the original purpose of the marketing tax.
Any effective gambling regulatory framework must stop treating online and offline operators as separate categories, or it will keep failing to curb underage betting and unlicensed platform growth.
Author bio: Adrian Kingsley, an internationally renowned public administration scholar focusing on regulated leisure sector governance and compliance policy.