TITLE: France's National Gaming Authority Adopts Comprehensive Fraud Prevention Guide for Online Gambling Operators
BODY:
On June 9, 2026, the Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ), France's gaming regulator, adopted a comprehensive guide addressing fraud prevention by online gambling operators. The decision, published on June 12, 2026, establishes detailed procedures and recommendations for identifying, characterizing, and managing fraudulent player activity across online gaming platforms.
The guide applies to all online gaming offerings requiring player registration, including competitive gaming, online lotteries, and physical distribution networks with online account requirements. It excludes cases involving money laundering or terrorism financing suspicions, which remain subject to separate financial crime regulations.
The ANJ identifies five primary fraud categories: civil identity fraud (including document falsification, identity alteration, identity usurpation, account sharing, and multiple accounts); payment method fraud (including falsified banking documents and unauthorized card use); abusive chargeback disputes; gaming fraud (including poker collusion, robot usage, and sports manipulation); and "money dumping" (disguised fund transfers between accounts).
The guide establishes that fraud characterization requires substantial evidentiary elements and cannot rely on mere suspicion. Operators must collect sufficient probative evidence before refusing payouts or account access. For confirmed fraud, the ANJ recommends account closure, with players prohibited from reopening accounts for periods up to six years. Regarding account balances, the guide specifies different treatments depending on fraud type: identity fraud typically results in balance reserves; account hacking requires case-by-case analysis; and gaming fraud may involve prize redistribution to other participants.
The ANJ emphasizes that operators retain contractual freedom within legal limits and must clearly specify fraud-related penalties in their terms. Penalty clauses must not be manifestly disproportionate to actual damages, with operators advised to establish absolute value caps alongside percentage-based calculations.
The guide includes extensive jurisprudential review demonstrating evidentiary standards courts expect when adjudicating fraud disputes.