The National Assembly on Friday enriched the new framework planned for “Games with monetizable digital objects” (Jonum), on the border between video games and gambling, and for which the left tried in vain to impose the same restrictions only to the latter.
The deputies rewrote the chapter devoted to these hybrid games in the bill to secure the internet, examined at first reading after its adoption in the Senate, in particular by adding safeguards to protect young people from the risks of addiction.
The government wanted to put in place regulation by ordinance, but the Senate had rejected this possibility and provided for the authorization for three years of an experimental status for these Jonum. MPs added guarantees, citing the addictive potential of these games as well as the dreaded drives in terms of money laundering.
An amendment by the presidential majority clarified that online casinos remained illegal. Others predicted that Jonum companies would be required to verify the age of their users when accessing the game, under penalty of sanction.
The requirement for an identity verification mechanism has also been added when withdrawing winnings, if it takes place outside the platform.
Amendments from all sides have prohibited Jonum from offering loan mechanisms to acquire digital objects, such as additional accessories in certain video games. A Modem amendment provides that a limit to the amount of rewards awarded must be set.
Socialist additions were also voted on, specifying that Jonum are only authorized for adults.
But the left-wing deputies would have liked to go further in the framework. They tried in vain to exclude any monizable gain or even remuneration in cryptocurrencies.
More broadly, they tried without success to state that Jonum should be subject to the same legal restrictions as games of money and chance.
For Arthur Delaporte (PS), the planned framework can almost be considered as deregulation. Young people in working-class neighborhoods are very targeted by these mechanisms of sports betting or speculative games, warned ecologist Aurlien Tach.
Aurlien Saintoul (LFI) accused the presidential camp of wanting a tailor-made status for the French company Sorare, which absolutely must be cajoled because one of its major shareholders happens to be Xavier Niel.
Sophia Chikirou (LFI) also mentioned this platform for exchanging virtual collectible cards in the world of football, which can reach dizzying values, denouncing pressure and lobbying towards MPs.
Philippe Latombe (MoDem) also considered that the article adopted on Jonum posed a problem of constitutionality due to a break in equality with traditional gambling companies.
The deputies concluded the examination of the text in the evening, at the end of a session shaken by the knife attack in an Arras high school. The Assembly suspended its work at the end of the morning then observed a minute of silence in the afternoon.
The text will be the subject of a solemn vote on October 17.