“Everything for the daronne”? Very little for the National Gaming Authority. The ANJ is asking Winamax, a specialist in online sports betting, to withdraw its “Tout pour la daronne” advertisement within a month, because it “conveys the message that sports betting can contribute to social success” . This is the first time that the ANJ has exercised its power to withdraw commercial communication.
The authority “is currently carrying out a review of certain commercial communications to assess their compliance” with the guidelines it published in February, aimed at regulating the content of advertisements for gambling, explains the ANJ in a press release. .
The ANJ considers that Winamax’s film “Tout pour la Daronne” contravenes these rules, because it “conveys the message that sports betting can contribute to social success, understood as social climbing or a change in social status, in this case that of the mother and her son thanks to the gain he has drawn from a victorious sports bet”. “This is the reason why the ANJ college requires the Winamax company to withdraw” this advertisement “from any distribution medium, within one month of notification of the decision”, indicates the ‘authority.
Ads now submitted to the ANJ before
This four-week period is linked to the fact that “the authority has just made its interpretation of the texts known, even though the advertisement was already broadcast (Editor’s note: in 2021) and that it was therefore necessary to provide a deadline to comply with the operator, who is the first to receive the injunction provided for by these new texts”, specified a spokesperson for the ANJ.
This advertisement had already been controversial at the start of its broadcast, last June, for the Euro football. It was criticized for targeting audiences more vulnerable to gambling addictions.
Gambling operators have “now become accustomed to submitting” their advertisements to the ANJ before broadcast, “which will neutralize upstream those that would be shocking”, according to the spokesperson. The ANJ’s guidelines specify in particular that advertisements for gambling should not associate gambling “with the possibility of changing social status, having extraordinary experiences or accessing services (…) reserved for very wealthy people – private jet travel or luxury yacht cruises”.