The French National Gaming Authority (ANJ) has formally launched an unprecedented regulatory regime in Europe: the framework for Monetizable Digital Object Games, known by its French acronym as JONUM. Its legal basis is Articles 40 and 41 of the SREN Law —Law to Secure and Regulate the Digital Space, number 2024-449— promulgated in May 2024, and its concrete application was defined by Decree number 2026-60 of February 4, 2026.
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The framework has an experimental duration of three years and targets a category of products that until now moved in a legal vacuum: video games involving a financial outlay by the player, an element of chance, and the possibility of acquiring digital assets —such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or game currencies— that can later be resold on secondary markets.
What JONUM allows and prohibits in France
The JONUM regime does not equate these games with traditional gambling, but it does not leave them uncontrolled either. The key distinction is that JONUM titles cannot offer prizes in legal tender, as occurs in licensed casinos or sports betting. Rewards are limited to monetizable digital objects and what the decree calls “complementary rewards,” whose nature and caps were set in the February regulation.
The law also sets limits on the total accumulated value a player can receive over time through these digital assets, reducing the risk of the system becoming a covert gambling route.
Mandatory protections for players
The framework incorporates safeguards similar to those governing regulated gambling in France. Operators must verify the age and identity of each user when creating an account, and those under 18 years of age are prohibited from access. Additionally, they must offer responsible gaming tools: time and weekly spending limits configurable by the player, as well as self-exclusion options.
Any operator wishing to offer JONUM products in France must submit a prior declaration to the ANJ before launch. The authority will issue a confirmation receipt, although this document does not equate to a guarantee of regulatory compliance. The ANJ will publish the updated list of declared services on its website.
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Operators are also required to report their activity with full transparency and facilitate tracking access when using blockchain or digital wallets, so that the ANJ can monitor financial flows to prevent money laundering.
France gets ahead of its European neighbors
The launch of the JONUM framework positions France as one of the first European jurisdictions to create a tailor-made regulation for this type of game, instead of directly applying existing betting legislation to them.
The contrast with other countries is striking. Belgium declared paid loot boxes in certain video games illegal, considering them gambling under its national legislation, leading several developers to remove those mechanics from their titles. The Netherlands followed a similar path, examining loot boxes within its existing gambling framework and pushing developers to adapt their systems.
The United Kingdom opted for a more relaxed stance: the Gambling Commission determined that most loot boxes do not fall under the Gambling Act 2005 because the virtual objects they offer are not directly convertible into real money. Instead of formal regulation, the previous government promoted industry self-regulation measures, including the recommendation of UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) to restrict access to loot boxes to those over 18.
France, on the other hand, chose to build a new legal category that recognizes the hybrid nature of these products and applies specific obligations to them, without blocking them or assimilating them into conventional gambling.
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