France’s Médiateur des Jeux (gambling mediator) Denys Millet in his annual report called for casino operators to do more to prevent problem gambling, SBC News reported May 16.
His report was published in cooperation with the regulator Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ). It was the first to be released since before the pandemic.
Millet had four specific recommendations, while accusing casinos of “almost systematically” delaying measures for suspending accounts.
He called for casinos to put the measures into effect “as soon as the player does not respond to prevention messages, avoids any attempt to contact them or changes his gambling behavior by increasing his deposits and bets, reflecting a clear loss of control that exposes him to heavy losses.”
The sooner the measures are implemented the sooner gamblers can be put in touch with support to control their addiction.
The second recommendation is 1) refunding player accounts in cases of suspected fraud, 2) operator terms and conditions, allowing operators to cancel bets made in short “bursts” and 3) requiring operators to inform players of account closures due to inactivity.
The report also complained that the number of referrals compared to the number of addicted gamblers remains low. On the other hand, the number of gamblers who don’t consider themselves addicted and complain about closed accounts has risen.
