French gambling regulator l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has reviewed anti-money laundering (AML) action plans presented by operators in the country, approving them on a whole but identifying certain areas for improvement.
Under law in France, operators must submit actions plans outlining their measures against fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing to ANJ each year.
The reviews culminated in ANJ creating a three-stage action plan, which centres on a risk-based approach. The stages are understanding the risks of how an operator’s activity could be exposed, how an operator dedicates resources to managing these risks and managing a business relationship with players.
For risk analysis, ANJ recommended that operators distinguish risk analysis with reference to the type of gambling involved and assess how critical the risk is.
For organisation and dedicated resources, ANJ stated that operators should improve staff compliance, focusing on anti-money laundering, fraud and terrorist financing measures.
ANJ also recommended that operators ensure their asset-freezing measures comply with the law, and make sure measures are in place for all staff to declare suspicious transactions.
Looking more closely at lottery operator Française des Jeux and horse racing monopoly Pari Mutuel Urbain, ANJ advised that both operators increase point-of-sale checks on retailers.
Last week ANJ approved actions plans for responsible gambling practices for casinos and horse racing operators.
