Is the dazzling growth of Sorare threatened? The French company, valued at 4.3 billion dollars (4.2 billion euros), is in any case scrutinized by the National Gaming Authority (ANJ), which seeks to characterize its online game, from a new genre, launched in 2019. On the platform, players can buy virtual cards in the form of NFTs (non-fungible tokens, “non-fungible tokens”, unique digital assets that are traded online) corresponding to athletes and whose value evolves according to their performance in real life. Purchases can be made in cryptocurrencies (ether, notably).
It is therefore a question, for the young shoot, of proving that it is not a sports betting platform, by the start of the 2022 school year. “The ANJ is to meet Sorare representatives at the beginning of September”declares, to World, Frédéric Guerchoun, legal director of the authority, confirming information from BFM Business on Friday July 29. “The ANJ was very quick to react. It’s a market that’s still confidential, but it’s a whole new use.”observes Julien Pillot, professor of digital economy at the National Institute of Advanced Economic and Commercial Studies.
Sorare, which now has around 100 employees and 137,000 players with at least one card worldwide, maintains strong ties with the world of sport: evidenced by its partnerships with the newspaper The Team or with stars like Kylian Mbappé or Zinédine Zidane, and the creation of very active communities of players from poker or sports betting.
“When a company invents a new model based on an emerging technology, and is successful, it’s no surprise that it raises questions”, has reacted on LinkedIn co-founder Nicolas Julia. The start-up tells the World do not want to publicly comment on private exchanges. If Mr. Julia recognizes the need to establish rules for his activity, he believes that they should not be those of gambling: “What Sorare and many French and European players are proposing is a new model that does not fit into any existing framework. »
Notion of “financial sacrifice”
However, in Switzerland, what Sorare offers is indeed considered gambling and has been temporarily banned since September 2021. In October, the British online gaming regulator had, for its part, opened an investigation into the company for the same reasons. In France, the homeland security code defines gambling by “all operations offered to the public, under any name whatsoever, to give rise to the hope of a gain which would be due, even partially, to chance and for which a financial sacrifice is required from the participants” (article L320-1). However, speculation directly linked to the performance of players − which is due to chance − does indeed seem to lead to an expectation of gain.
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