France’s gambling regulator, L’Autorité Nationale Des Jeux (ANJ), announced the removal of a significant number of offerings from its “Liste Sport.” The list, which contains all sports betting offerings authorized by the authority, has now been reduced to 772 entries.

The ANJ said that it reviewed its list in December, following extensive market research. According to the regulator, the removal of several dozen competitions will help to prevent the manipulation of results in professional sports.

The Liste Sport’s objective is to provide a comprehensive list of all authorized offerings in France, as well as to prevent match-fixing, limit bets on certain competitions and prohibit knowledge-based bets.

The ANJ emphasized that it needed to actualize this list since it was last modified in 2010. The authority explained that the Liste Sport was no longer clear and coherent enough, prompting the review. In addition, some competitions no longer exist, the ANJ pointed out. Some, such as the Tunisian soccer league carry an increased risk of match manipulation. Others, such as the Armenian soccer championship, no longer respond to ANJ’s criteria.

In total, 179 competitions have been removed from the list, bringing it to 772 entries.

The New List Is Clearer and More Concise

The ANJ added that only the final of the First Division (March Madness) of the NCAA will be an authorized offering going forward because of its attractiveness. However, the ANJ still opted to introduce NCAA-related restrictions because of the increased dangers of match-fixing related to the league.

However, the ANJ added that it has also lifted a number of restrictions that no longer seem justified. A major change, for example, is that basketball bets can now be placed on the number of points scored by players, even if this score is less than 20. The handicap bet ban in tennis is also being removed.

The ANJ explained that the review of its Liste Sport seeks to make it easier for operators to comply with the local regulations. The new version is clearer, removing unnecessarily complex wording and placing types of bets in broader categories.

To conclude, the French regulator said that the general principles of the list have not been affected by the aforementioned changes. Authorized bets must always relate to sporting stakes, while bets on negative actions remain prohibited. In addition, bets must always be executed as per the first announcement of results by the event organizer.

The new sporting list will come into force from March 1, 2024.

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