ANJ launches latest awareness campaign ahead of FIFA World Cup

Autorité Nationale des Jeux has launched a new public awareness campaign which is designated to inform consumers about the dangers of participating in excessive sports gambling during the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar and use unlicensed gambling websites which may purposefully target French citizens.

The campaign aims to prevent bad practices and habits and educate people about the downsides of gambling. ANJ has commissioned a survey by Harris Interactive which found out that one in three French nationals was going to follow the event and perhaps intended to place a bet.

In order to fight the bad practices that could stem from this, the ANJ has decide to launch its "T’as vu, t’as perdu," which translates as "You saw, you lost." France is acting sensibly as it expects huge interest in the FIFA World Cup action. This is based not only on the latest survey by Harris Interactive but also based on old data.

For Euro 2020, a total of €435m was bet. In 2018, people in France wagered €366m online in total sports betting wagers. However, there has been a tremendous growth in online activity when it comes to sports betting, which means that more people will be looking to place a bet, and not necessarily do so safely.

An estimated 70% of the people who intend to bet are men who are under the age of 35. They plan to spend €240 on FIFA World Cup bets. Soccer is also the biggest event in terms of the total betting handle that goes down on it. So, what’s the campaign going to do?

According to the campaign, there are 1.4m bettors who may be at risk, with 400,000 among them already showing pathological gambling behavior. It’s important to address this, the ANJ argues as these people may develop personal problems or gambling disorders that worsen over time.

For starters, the campaign wants to disperse any false notions about how sports gambling works and help people better understand what the potential downsides are. The ANJ is particularly worried about young players as well and wants to make sure that they understand the issue at hand.

The ANJ has turned to tropes from popular culture to make sure that its message is cleared loud and clear. That is why the authority has commissioned a catchy rap song that tells young people to be smart about their betting, and more importantly, improve education among young bettors about the dangers of sports betting and the excess of it.

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