France's ANJ and ARPP Renew Their Gambling Ad Pact and Bring JONUM Into Scope

France's gambling regulator and its advertising self-regulator have renewed the 2023 agreement under which the ARPP vets operators' ads before release and consults the ANJ when in doubt. The new version adds Web3 games, influencer certification and a review of the 2022 ad charters, but its text has not been published.

• The Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) and the Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP) renewed their 2023 partnership agreement on gambling advertising on 7 October, according to identical announcements from both bodies
• The new agreement brings games with monetisable digital objects, known as JONUM, into its scope alongside the advertising of licensed gambling operators
• The ANJ will help strengthen the gambling module of the ARPP's Responsible Commercial Influence Certificate, and the ARPP will take part in the ANJ's review of the four advertising charters signed in November 2022
• It was signed by ARPP president Christine Albanel and by Pascal Chevremont, appointed ANJ president by decree on 22 June
• Neither body has published the new text or its duration, or said how many campaigns the ARPP has referred to the ANJ since 2023, beyond "several times"

The Same Referral Mechanism, With Three Additions

Chevremont and Albanel renewed the convention first signed in 2023, according to the announcement both bodies published on 7 October. They describe the record under the first agreement as very positive, and say the new one keeps the same arrangements for sharing views and information while adding changes linked to developments in law and advertising practice.

The core mechanism is unchanged. The ARPP is the first point of contact for gambling operators on advertising projects before release. Subject to confidentiality, it can share its analysis with the ANJ and seek the regulator's view when it doubts a campaign complies, and it has done so several times since 2023, according to the announcement. No number is given.

Three things are new. JONUM now fall within the agreement. The ANJ will help strengthen the "JAH" gambling module of the ARPP's Certificat de l'Influence Commerciale Responsable, its certification for content creators. And the ARPP will take part in the ANJ's thinking on updating the four commitment charters signed in November 2022, covering gambling advertising on television, radio, outdoor and digital media. The text of the new convention has not been published.

What the 2023 Agreement Set Up

The first convention was signed on 18 July 2023 by Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, then ANJ president, and François d'Aubert, then ARPP president, for three years. It also required the ARPP to tell the ANJ when a complaint about a licensed operator's ad reached its Jury de Déontologie Publicitaire, and the ANJ to tell the ARPP when it was considering ordering an ad withdrawn, and it set up an annual exchange on major campaigns, problem ads and emerging practices. The ARPP's sector rulebook, its Recommandation "Jeux d'argent", dates from 2009 and was updated on 1 September 2022 to reflect the ANJ's guidelines, according to the convention.

The statutory power sits with the ANJ. Under article 34 IV of the 2010 gambling law, as amended in 2019, licensed online operators and exclusive-rights holders submit their promotional strategy across all media for the ANJ's approval each year; the ANJ can attach conditions and limit bonus offers. Approval comes ahead of the year: operator BCFR3 applied on 4 and 10 November 2025 for its 2026 strategy and the ANJ ruled on 16 December 2025, according to its decision, which adds that changes during the year must be notified at least two months ahead. SBC News, which first reported the renewal, described plans being submitted six months in advance; the ANJ's decisions do not set out that requirement.

The same decision recorded that most operators planned substantially higher promotional spending in 2026, peaking around the World Cup, and in February the ANJ urged operators to stay within the budgets they had announced. Influencers fall under the 2023 influencer law, which limits their promotion of gambling to platforms that can technically exclude minors, according to summaries of the law. JONUM, created by the SREN digital law of May 2024, became operational under a decree that took effect on 7 February 2026, opening a three-year experiment for games with tradable digital items that may not pay cash winnings.

Bringing JONUM In Now Is the Most Practical Change

JONUM operators are new to French advertising supervision, and their marketing sits between video-game promotion and gambling promotion. Adding them now means the body that sees campaigns before release and the regulator that can act afterwards start from the same reading while the experiment is young. But the agreement creates no new powers, and a JONUM start-up buying social media placements may never go near the ARPP. The value depends on whether new entrants use the pre-release route at all.

The Charter Review Is Where Chevremont's Agenda Will Show

The four 2022 charters are the part of the regime that can change without Parliament, and the ARPP now has a seat in that review. In February the ANJ asked lawmakers to revisit a ban on advertising during live matches. Chevremont named the illegal market and the protection of vulnerable players as his priorities on appointment, and the ANJ's own decisions describe advertising as the way the legal offer distinguishes itself from the illegal one. Running the review with the self-regulator suggests tighter commitments rather than a ban, though the ANJ has not said what it wants to change. South Africa's gambling board took a similar route last month with its pact with the advertising watchdog.

"Several Times" Is Not Yet a Measurable Record

Both bodies call the first three years very positive, but the evidence offered is that the ARPP consulted the ANJ on several occasions. There is no count of referrals, no published output from the annual exchange and no figure for certified creators with the gambling option. As the arrangement extends to a new product class, a published annual summary would show whether pre-release review catches what the ANJ would otherwise have to withdraw.

France has renewed a cooperative model rather than reaching for a ban, and given it a wider remit. Whether it works will show in the charter review, and in whether either body starts publishing what the cooperation catches.