2024-01-28 15:14:06
The announcement was made on Thursday. Three years following its establishment, the National Gaming Authority (ANJ), an independent administrative authority responsible for regulating authorized gambling and betting, unveiled “its strategic plan” for 2024-2026 with, as a priority “Tackling gaming addiction”. So to reduce the number of excessive gamblers, of which there are 400,000 in France and nearly 1.5 million identified as “at risk”, the ANJ would like to put an end to anonymity at points of sale. Like what is done to enter casinos, punters would then find themselves taking out their identity card to be able to bet on the Loto or PMU.
“The only thing that will change is that we will lose customers,” complains Mousa, manager of a tobacco shop in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon. Before continuing: “There is no being for or once morest. My job is to sell games, tobacco and betting. If I don’t do it, I don’t work. I’m not the police, I don’t have to deal with this. If the customer is an adult and has money, he can do what he wants with his pocket! »
Gaming addiction, “worse than a drug”
A few meters away, Kim, who has managed a PMU café and tobacconist for five and a half years, protests: “I’m not going to ask everyone! All this measure will do is create another problem. And believe me, we already have enough! » He believes that there are “really a lot” of people in his clientele who participate in horse racing betting. “At the beginning of the month, there are more of them than at the end of the month,” he jokes.
Bilal is one of them. This 28-year-old man, who started playing games “three or four years ago”, would also like to stop. “Before, I played for pleasure,” he said. Now it’s out of habit. » Show your ID? Not a problem for him. “I know some people who live for it. You have to attend a quinté to understand. That’s not what’s going to stop enthusiasts, he confides. It’s definitely worse than a drug. Personally, I don’t even want to count everything I’ve already spent on this. With everything I gave, I feed the horses! I work for the PMU itself! »
“Those who really want to play will find a way to continue”
On the terrace of another café in the neighborhood, Kristof, 64, is in full gear. He fills his grid with the Française des jeux. His own thing? Sports betting. “I love football,” he smiles, a pen in one hand, a cigarette in the other. “Yes, it’s a vice,” he admits. But that’s why we love it, right? “. He assures that he plays “reasonably”, calculating each euro. For him, no measure will be able to stop addicted players. “That’s bullshit. The best way to control these problems and reduce these addictions is to stop selling them and shut down everything. It’s the same for tobacco! “, he says, taking a drag.
Fabrice, owner of a tobacco shop on the banks of the Rhône for twenty-five years, shares this opinion. He sees it as a sort of “hypocrisy”. “If there was no State profit behind it, perhaps these societal health issues would simply not exist,” he notes. In the meantime, those who really want to play, they will go elsewhere and find a way to continue. Perhaps wild games rooms will emerge…”. For his part, he remains “for more control”. This tobacconist sees “no problem” in asking for his customers’ ID. “We already do it for minors,” he points out.
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