Ollie swapped the abacus for Sonic on the SEGA Mega Drive at neighbor Frank's house at an early age and has never looked back. With thousands of hours in Dota 2 (and no ability to show for it), he still clings on to the hope that one day, he will replicate Natus Vincere at gamescom 14 years ago and lift the Aegis of Champions. Ollie has been at the intersection of video games, esports, and gambling for over ten years and has also worked in consultancy in the gambling industry. Ollie's work can be found on the likes of: BBC, Red Bull Gaming, Esports Insider, CasinoBeats, PC Gamer, Green Man Gaming as well as his own thought-leadership substack "Esprouts" looking at specific studies and stories where games meet gambling.
Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
Image credit: Esports World Cup As the Esports World Cup in Paris heads into its second week, the French gambling regulator, Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has reiterated that betting on esports is illegal everywhere in France, on every platform.
The regulator issued the reminder during the first week of the Esports World Cup competition, emphasizing that its ban on esports betting is because the legislator wants to “protect the young public from the dangers inherent in gambling (addiction, isolation, family and financial problems, etc.).”
This is at odds (pardon the pun) with a large number of regulatory regimes, where esports markets are licensed and regulated as per pretty much any other sport that a bettor wishes to wager on.
The government continues to emphasize its efforts in esports, bringing large events to the country. But the gambling regulator’s stance is bizarre and makes little sense in light of this push.
The 2010 French online gambling law (Articles 10-14) limits legal betting to a sporting catalog approved by the ANJ, and esports does not make that list.
Legislation passed in 2016 created a new legal category for “compétitions de jeux vidéo” in the Code de la sécurité intérieure (Articles L.321-8 to L.321-11). It states directly, in the law’s own text, that organizing competition under this chapter does not include organizing betting on it.
The law that acknowledged esports and competitive gaming also outlawed betting in the same paragraph.
The snappy reminder that esports wagering is illegal is followed by warnings against using sites that offer esports betting. By the ANJ’s definition, any site offering esports markets is not approved under French legislation.
It lists certain dangers posed by unregulated operators, including: lack of responsible gambling tools; insecure data and identity theft; rigged gaming software; lack of a payment guarantee; and unfair commercial practices.
But are these genuine threats? Or is this another “playing Grand Theft Auto makes kids steal cars and shoot guns” situation with out-of-touch government officials?
Image Credits: Esports World Cup Foundation The ANJ’s classification of esports as something fundamentally different from a sports perspective is typical of a regulator who doesn’t really understand…