As part of the SREN Act, which was passed in May 2024, JONUM was initially created under French law.
In an attempt to control some Web3 and blockchain-based games, the French gaming authority l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has legally operationalized a new regulatory framework for games with monetisable digital items.
The three-year experimental framework known as Jeux à Objets Numériques Monétisables (JONUM) will encompass games that fall somewhere between legal gambling and traditional video gaming. It allows players to purchase monetizable digital goods like blockchain-based products or non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Secondary marketplaces can then be used to exchange these.
However, just like licensed gambling products, JONUM titles are explicitly prohibited by the framework from offering cash awards. Additionally, it establishes restrictions on the distribution of incentives, such as the maximum amount of money a player may eventually get in digital assets.
After implementing decrees went into effect earlier in February, the JONUM framework is currently operational. The SREN (Security and Digital Space Regulation) Act, which was passed in May 2024, was the first piece of legislation to establish it in France.
The framework's creation of a separate legal category for online games that do not offer rewards in legal tender but do have a financial stake, a component of chance, and digital assets that can be resold later is crucial.
#A crucial component of JONUM is safeguards
A number of measures were also put in the regime to protect players of these games. Minors are not allowed to play these games, and operators must confirm players' identities and ages when they register. This is intended to resemble France's regulated gambling market, where licensed operators must comply with comparable ID standards.
Operators must use instruments for responsible gaming, just like in traditional gambling. These include self-exclusion tools that allow users to block themselves from games, as well as the opportunity for players to establish weekly spending and play time limitations.
Before launching, operators who wish to sell JONUM goods in France must also file a declaration to the ANJ. In order for the ANJ to keep an eye on flows for anti-money laundering and other compliance reasons, they must also maintain complete transparency with regulator reporting, including activity logs, and grant tracking access if blockchain or wallets are employed.
The approach applies consumer protection standards comparable to those enforced on licensed betting businesses while attempting to distinguish between traditional gambling and blockchain-based gaming mechanisms.
Emphasis on loot boxes in European marketplaces
Instead of merely implementing legacy gambling law, France is now among the first European jurisdictions to implement a customized regulatory model for monetarily viable digital object games thanks to the official debut of this framework.
Other European nations have approached analogous mechanisms, such as loot boxes and other chance-based monetization, somewhat differently.
A Belgian regulator decided that paid loot boxes in several video games violated the country's gambling regulations. As a result, instead of risking non-compliance, some publishers decided to remove these elements from eligible products. In the meanwhile, Dutch regulators examined loot boxes under current gambling regulations and urged developers to modify or remove mechanisms that resembled games of chance.
Although the Gambling Commission adopted a very different stance, loot boxes have also raised concerns in the UK. The regulator argued that the majority of loot boxes do not fall within its purview because the virtual goods involved cannot be exchanged for actual cash, instead of labeling them as gambling under the Gambling Act of 2005.
Therefore, the government has refrained from enacting formal regulation right away, as has the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport. To protect younger players, the previous administration instead called for industry intervention. This included backing the UK Interactive Entertainment's (Ukie) suggestions to limit treasure boxes to those who are at least eighteen years old.
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