France's ANJ Issues New Guide On Tackling Player Fraud
France's gambling regulator, the Autorite Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has published a practical guide for licensed online gambling operators on identifying, documenting and responding to player fraud. The guide, released on August 31, 2026 after a consultation period with operators and the gaming ombudsman, does not create new legal obligations, but tightens the operational framework operators are expected to follow.
The guide - published on the ANJ's own website, identifies six categories of fraud commonly encountered in online gambling: identity fraud, payment fraud, abusive chargebacks, in-game cheating, money-dumping and sporting event manipulation. For each category, the ANJ sets out the relevant legal provisions and the operational steps operators should take.
In cases of identity fraud, the guide advises operators to close accounts once fraud is established and to reserve balances when bank account ownership cannot be confirmed. On account takeovers, it recommends technical safeguards such as two-factor authentication for withdrawals and any changes to banking details.
For poker collusion or bot use, the ANJ says contractual terms that allow operators to redistribute illegitimate winnings to affected players have already been upheld by French courts when backed by solid data.
Evidentiary Standards Clarified
A significant part of the guide addresses what French courts expect operators to prove before taking action that a player could legally challenge, such as closing an account or withholding a balance.
The ANJ says operators must rely on proof rather than suspicion, and it lists the type of evidence, described as converging indicators, that courts have accepted in past cases, including IP addresses, device logs and connection timings.
Operators are encouraged to review their know-your-customer checks, fraud detection systems and contractual terms against the guide's recommendations, and to confirm their technical safeguards meet the regulator's certification standards.
Part Of A Wider Compliance Push
The fraud guide follows a run of enforcement activity from the ANJ this year. In July 2026, the regulator fined an unnamed operator, referred to as Company X, 500,000 euros for failing to correctly identify and support customers showing signs of problem gambling, after an investigation found the operator had missed or misclassified 29 high-risk players.
The ANJ also ran a public awareness campaign during the 2026 World Cup warning of gambling addiction risks tied to the rise in sports betting activity around the tournament.
