The ANJ Sanctions Committee has ruled that SPS Betting, the operator of the Kindred Group's Unibet brand, has been fined 800,000 euros for failing to meet the requirements of France's self-exclusion system.
SPS Betting, headquartered in Malta, holds three French licenses covering online betting, horse racing, and ring games, and operates through Unibet.fr. The ruling noted that Unibet's iOS platform had a long-term "malfunction," which prevented players from self-isolating from March 2021 to December 2022. The issue reappeared in late December 2022 and continued until February 2023.
The first reports in 2021 indicated that the processing time for self-isolation applications was only a few days instead of several months. As a result, 6,754 players were affected, unable to complete self-isolation within the scheduled timeframe. According to the French Gambling Act of 2010, players must be allowed to self-isolate for 24 hours to 12 months.
The ANJ believes that, given the long-term and serious nature of the issue, a fine and public penalty should be imposed. SPS Betting must display the ruling on its Unibet.fr website and mobile application from March 17 to 31. The operator has two months to appeal to the Council of State.
In its ruling, the ANJ emphasized the company's market influence in online sports betting and ring games, noting that the misconduct was "serious."
