L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), France’s gambling regulator, has issued a record EUR 800,000 ($843,360) fine to SPS Betting, which operates the Unibet brand in France, due to a serious self-exclusion failure. This is the authority’s largest fine yet and emphasizes the severity of the issue.
The Largest Fine in ANJ’s History
According to the ANJ, the Unibet brand has experienced a serious self-exclusion-related malfunction that lasted for an extended period of time. This malfunction ended up allowing self-excluded players to place bets, potentially exposing vulnerable customers to risks of gambling harm.
The ANJ understood that the issue affected only iOS users and lasted for almost two years. It started in March 2021 and continued until December 2022 before it was finally corrected by Unibet. However, certain issues reappeared for approximately three more months before additional fixes were implemented and the matter was finally settled.
The ANJ was unable to confirm how many self-excluded players actually ended up using the betting services due to the malfunction. However, it is believed that this number should not exceed 100 players. SPS Betting believed that the issue affected more than 4,500 player accounts, regardless of whether those players placed bets or not. ANJ put this figure at 6,754.
In any case, SPS Betting did not dispute the findings, which, according to the ANJ, constitute a very serious breach of its rules.
The Violation Was Severe
Because of the severe nature of the violations, the prolonged period of the malfunction and the ineffectiveness of the initial remediation measures, the ANJ opted to levy the largest fine in its history. The authority emphasized that self-exclusion is crucial to regulated online gaming and something that must be respected by all companies.
Another factor for the fine was the fact that Unibet had already been fined two times in France. The more recent violation was due to violating France’s return to player (RTP) limit of 85%
Unibet has two months to appeal the decision. The operator is furthermore required to display a message regarding the penalty on its homepage.
Unibet Got Scrutinized in the Netherlands, France Implemented Tax Hike
In January, Unibet faced scrutiny in the Netherlands over its attempts to block lawsuits by former players. The suits in question come from gamblers who lost money to the company before it was regulated in the country. Such lawsuits have become increasingly common in regulated markets, despite operators’ efforts to stop them.
In the meantime, France’s gaming market was recently hit with a tax hike on certain products. The country had almost decided to drop its plan for higher gambling taxes but ended up reimplementing it in its new budget.
La Française des Jeux (FDJ), one of France’s biggest operators, remained optimistic about its business despite the change.
