Month: March 2021

The scheme, first agreed at an extraordinary general meeting in June 2020, will run between 1 March and 30 April, with the aim of returning excess cash to shareholders.

Kindred will be able repurchase up to 2,000,000 of its own shares, but must also ensure its holding does not exceed 10% of total outstanding shares in the group.

Share repurchases will be made on the Nasdaq Stockholm in Sweden, with the operator only permitted to spend up to SEK190m. Payments must also be made in cash.

Following the programme, Kindred intends to cancel the repurchased shares, subject to approval at its annual general meeting in May.

The current total number of outstanding shares in Kindred is 230,126,200, with the operator only holding 2,971,358 shares.

Confirmation of the programme comes after Kindred last month reveal that its full-year revenue in 2020 passed the £1bn mark for the first time, thanks to new highs in active customers and major growth in new markets.

Full year revenue grew 23.9% to £1.13bn for the year.

MediaTroopers has been operating in the US state via an interim licence granted in June 2020, and the new permit will allow it to continue working with licensed operators in West Virginia.

The agency is also licensed and operates in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan and Iowa, while it was approved to go live in Virginia in January.

MediaTroopers specialises in digital media, mobile advertising and customer acquisition strategy for online gambling operators in the US.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Made by Sport will manage the distribution of funds to clubs struggling with the financial impact of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The £4.8m donation being made by Flutter is the amount it benefitted from as a result of business rates relief, which was put in place from March 2020 to March 2021 for its shops in England.

Flutter’s Cash4Clubs initiative launched in 2008 and has given almost £800,000 to clubs over the past 12 years, including £165,000 in grants in 2020.

“Lack of funding is not a new issue for community clubs which is why we originally set up our Cash4Clubs programme,” Flutter group chief executive Peter Jackson said.

“But now help is needed more than ever and working with Made by Sport to provide a fund for ‘Clubs In Crisis’ is a great way for us to pass the benefit of business rates relief straight into the communities where that funding is most needed.”

Made by Sport chairman Justin King added: “With a quarter of all sports clubs in the UK facing permanent closure, community sport is facing a crisis. As we look to the future and rebuilding our communities, the role of grassroots sports in helping to tackle some of the key social issues exacerbated by the pandemic will be ever more important.

“This fund will reach some of the smallest and hardest hit clubs, and for many this will be the difference between permanent closure and the chance to continue the great work they do to address the social inequalities that exist in our communities.”

Last week, the Betting and Gaming Council appealed to Chancellor Rishi Sunak to extend business rates relief for a further year, saying this would support betting shops and casinos that have been forced to close for much of the pandemic.

Introduced in March last year, this relief meant retail, leisure and hospitality businesses were exempt from paying business rates for 12 months. This initially did not apply to gambling business, but was eventually extended to the industry.

The operator said the main reason for the decrease was disruption to the business caused by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which saw slot machines closed entirely or in part for a total of around five months.

Gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the year was €1.26bn, down 25.5%, and the operator said the pandemic had reduced its GGR by more than €300m throughout the year.

Of the total GGR, 56.6% came from the points of sale of the operator’s retail network, while 43.4% came from its digital channel, up 11.6%.

The increased share attributed to the digital channel occurred as a result of a drop in the share of point-of-sales gaming following slot machine closures, the operator said.

Of the total gaming figure, 58.1% was authenticated, using ID checks. The proportion of slot gaming which was authenticated was just 11.5% after the operator piloted ID requirements for slots from October. In January of this year, it rolled this requirement out nationwide.

The total Finnish gambling market saw GGR of €1.59bn, down 21%, meaning Veikkaus’ market share was around 80%.

The operator’s share of the total online market was around 63%, and the total amount wagered on Veikkaus games was around €8.20bn.

The average prevalence of problem gambling in the country, according to two surveys commissioned from the Taloustutkimus market research company, was around 2.5%.

Veikkaus said that even when slot machines were open, outside the four months of closure in spring and again in large parts of the country from November, a smaller proportion of the machines was allowed to open, in order to ensure a safe distance between the machines as required by Covid-19 safety measures.

In addition to the slot closures, revenues were affected by the lack of professional sports worldwide which caused a reduction in the availability of betting markets.

“We had to take major, even difficult, decisions, on a tight schedule at Veikkaus due to the coronavirus epidemic in 2020, in order to protect the health of our staff, customers, and retailers,” said Regina Sippel, the operator’s chief financial officer.

“To Veikkaus, just as to many other companies, the year of the coronavirus was challenging; however, it was also a year of positive, remarkable solutions that have enabled the building of a more responsible gaming environment.”

The operator’s strategy and CSR programme were updated in 2020, with a focus on player responsibility.

“The updated strategy is based on an even safer and more responsible Gaming environment, said Hanna Kyrki, SVP legal affairs and CSR.

“Despite the challenges and insecurity caused by the epidemic, we made major decisions to work on the building of a more responsible gaming environment in 2020.”

One of the major changes made to its policy was a reduction in the total number of slot machines on its retail network, by around 8,000, or 40% of its machines. The maximum number of machines permitted in one location is now 4, whereas previously the largest retail units could have up to 15 slot machines.

The operator also began to prepare for the compulsory identification of players across all of its games in 2020, which it hopes to enforce by 2023.

It has been estimated that the introduction of compulsory authentication for players will reduce player losses by around €300m each year.

The operator also introduced a €500 maximum daily loss limit for “fast-paced online games” such as online lottery games, slots, bingo and table games, with an exception for poker. The loss limit is expected to remain in place until at least March 2021.

The latest figures from the Chinese special administrative region’s regulator the Direcção de Inspecção e Coordenação de Jogos (DICJ) show that February revenue came to MOP7.31bn (£655.7m/€759.4m/$915.4m). 

This was up significantly from February 2020, when casinos were ordered to shut their doors five days into the month as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is the first time that revenue has risen year-on-year since September 2019.

For that month, revenue came to MOP3.10bn, despite operations resuming from 20 February. Since February, social distancing requirements on properties have been in place, with travel to and from Macau heavily restricted. 

This meant that revenue for February 2021 remained far behind results for non-Covid years. For example, Macau’s casinos reported revenue of MOP25.37bn for February 2019. 

This year’s February total was also down 8.9% compared to January 2021, when revenue for the market came to MOP8.02bn. 

Looking ahead, there is some scope for optimism. On 23 February, the Macau government lifted the 14-day quarantine requirements for the cities of Shijiazhuang in Hebei province and Suihua in Heilongjiang province. 

This meant that for the first time since February last year, no travellers would be required to self-isolate upon entering Macau. These controls had largely cut off tourism to Macau, and its casinos’ main customer base, resulting in revenue falling 79.3% to MOP60.44bn for the year. 

However, the Chinese government is also ramping up efforts to limit citizens’ gambling. It is looking to impose financial and travel restrictions on citizens that travel abroad to gamble, and crack down on illegal junkets to destinations outside the Chinese mainland, especially over the Lunar New Year holiday.

Total revenue for the month amounted to $3.7m (£2.7m/€3.1m), up from $3.3m in January 2020 and also 48.8% higher than the $2.5m recorded in December last year.

Mobile betting accounted for $2.1m of all revenue in the month, while land-based revenue, split between the Twin River Casino and Tiverton Casino, amounted to $1.6m.

Players wagered a record $39.8m on sports during the month, up 48.0% year-on-year and also 74.6% more than in December 2020.

Some $21.9m was wagered on mobile in January, compared to $17.9m at the two land-based sportsbooks at the Twin River Casino and Tiverton Casino.

Read the full story on iGB North America.

Why have you decided to introduce a new vision and mission now? What’s behind the timing?
Nir Elbaz: The combination of the company entering a new phase of growth and maturity as well as the shift we have seen in online products in the last year led us to re-evaluate our approach and positioning and create a new brand manifesto which embraces all those elements. This is encapsulated within our new creative expression of ‘Serious Fun’ which outlines our commitment to delivering fun experiences in a professional way. 

I’ve been in igaming for a long time and learned that trends change in the online world at lightning speed. If you don’t adapt, then you will be left behind very quickly. We are now in a great position to grow even faster and more efficiently across an even wider range of products and markets and our renewed focus puts us in pole position to achieve our goals. 

Tell us more about the cultural shift you are rolling out throughout the business? Why have you brought this in and what do you hope to achieve from the new mission, vision and values you have set out? 
We have recruited heavily in line with growth across our games development, GAP platform, and business intelligence teams. We have also bolstered our executive management in HR, marketing, technology and product, and business development. It therefore felt like the ideal time to re-examine our strategy, purpose and positioning within an increasingly competitive industry and the role we play in that global ecosystem.

I repeatedly talk about our journey but that is exactly what we are on, and to stand out from the rest of the industry we need to have a clear vision of where we are heading. Our goal is to create an outstanding company culture and our new brand manifesto places our employees, our partners and their players at the core of our success, growth and sustainability.

Our vision is to create a great place to work built on a foundation of our values: respect, curiosity and passion. A rewarding culture with a clear purpose that provides room for personal growth to make iSoftBet stronger. 

What does the shift from ‘Simply Play’ to ‘Serious Fun’ mean? 
It shows just how far we have come, how much we have grown and how central we are to the success of large parts of our industry. 

Our new creative expression captures our three core values within two memorable words, showcasing our professional approach and high quality. It equally emphasises our role within the entertainment industry and that fun is central to everything we do and deliver. This is often forgotten in igaming, but I really believe it should be key to everything not only we do, but also the rest of the industry. 

You have ambitious plans for the year and the longer-term future as well. Can you outline what your strategy is for 2021 and beyond? 
Our global growth is being driven by the introduction of best-performing game IP, for example, our partnership with Big Time Gaming and their Megaways titles where we have seen huge customer appetite. Equally, the growth of our Hold & Win games such as Gold Digger and combining them with other popular features such as Megaways, entwined with the continued success of proprietary products like ‘Twisted Tales’, have meant we clearly stand out from our competitors and regularly appear in the best performing content. This has also been augmented by the growth of our GAP platform, its unique features and player engagement solutions such as iNgame. We have also made great strides in game and platform development and operators are really responding to what we’re doing. 

GAP has been a huge success due to its effortless, out-of-the-box integration making life easier for operators and, as more markets such as Greece and the Netherlands in Europe and countries in Latin America open to regulated real money gaming, we expect this to continue to grow. 

The supplier market is saturated. Where does the business really stand out and where do you see yourselves positioned in the market? 
There has been a ‘sea of sameness’ washing over much of the industry for some time and we believe we are the antithesis to this. Brands are desperate for differentiation and we offer precisely that creating highly entertaining and compelling content for engaged and diverse gambling audiences. 

We have exciting plans to accelerate our marketing strategy and activities over the course of 2021 across quarterly integrated campaigns, all of which will engage our audiences in new and exciting ways. 

We always strive to go above and beyond and our new campaigns will challenge the status quo, place amazing experiences and entertainment front and centre, and reaffirm our position in the market as a driving force in standout casino games and aggregation.

This is why we have launched our new manifesto and are committed to going the extra mile to achieving great results for our partners. 

What are the three key things you hope to achieve in the next 12 months? 
First and foremost, now we have set out a new brand manifesto we must live and breathe our values and work hard to implement these every day. 

Secondly, I want our values, and our mantra of ‘Serious Fun’ to touch everything we do and generate tangible results. You will see that shining through not just in our marketing and creative expression, but also in the games and products we release and our integrated quarterly campaigns. 

This kicked off with our Queen of Wonderland campaign last year where we involved every stakeholder in the launch including operators, streamers and the media to give them a fully immersive experience. This set the benchmark for the types of activity we will introduce and you will soon see another in Q2 with both our latest Twisted Tales Game, Moriarty, the arch nemesis of detective Sherlock Holmes. 

The third element I want us to achieve is to continue to drive the industry with best-performing games – continually developing our proprietary mechanics and features that have been so well received. We also have planned to make further strides within engagement solutions and platform development including enhancements to our iNgame tournament tools and introducing new verticals such as customised games and real-time features to name a few.

You have hired extensively during 2020, where have these roles been predominantly and what do you aim to bolster within the business as a result? 
We have hired continually throughout 2020, particularly within our product teams with an emphasis to developing more proprietary content and mechanics. We have worked hard to secure some fantastic talent and we are now in a position of huge strength from a development and customer service perspective. Now it is about empowering the team to own and deliver the new vision in terms of enthusiasm, commitment and expertise, and I’m excited to see this already being successfully put into place this quarter.

The C-level executive team has also seen several additions. What results are you seeing from their addition? 
We have also significantly bolstered our senior management team to further accelerate our growth with key appointments such as a new CMO from Microsoft, new Head of HR, new Chief Technology Officer as well as a new Head of Business Development, all of whom are committed to our new brand manifesto and who are pushing me and the rest of the team to innovate and achieve even more.

Since they have come in, the management team have really taken ownership of our vision and the drive and quality of output has been phenomenal. This is the result of strong recruitment. The importance of a great team around me has always been a major focus. I am very proud of the talent we have attracted and can’t wait to see the business unleash its full potential in the months and years to come.

Investment in content, technology and platform development has been noticeable in the last few months, what have you done in these areas and what benefits are you seeing and expecting to generate from this? 
Throughout 2020 and into 2021 we have kept at our commitment to increasing our games production values and offering game titles that players really want. This has been key, and we have seen some great results. 

We have also further boosted our already high-quality production values and our talented teams have worked tirelessly on improving our games framework. In addition, we have further broadened our data visualisation and analytics solutions products providing our partners with in-depth game and feature performance so they can understand player engagement levels and benchmark against the market. This is a great springboard for us to do bigger and better things into 2021 and beyond. 

The investment is already paying off and this is just the beginning in terms of our ability to rapidly support operators. They need to instantly launch in regulated markets and our powerful aggregation platform aggregation enables them to effortlessly do that.

Not only do our games benefit from this, but so do our third-party partners’ games. Every product is treated equally in terms of speed-to-market and access to added-value engagement tools. 

This year we will also get even closer to our people and players and fine-tune our new titles to give them the experiences they want. We have a strong pipeline of Megaways titles, Hold and Win games, further instalments in the Twisted Tales series and some top-secret new features. 

Our mission is to build quality gaming products that inspire, innovate and entertain, always placing players and our partners at the heart of everything we do.

Shareholders representing the majority of Enlabs have now backed the improved offer.

Entain lodged an initial bid for the Enlabs business in January – an offer valued at SEK3.9bn – while full details of the proposal were published later in the month.

Entain’s board and shareholders owning 42.2% of Enlabs had backed the offer, and Enlabs recommended the bid be accepted, but some minority Enlabs shareholders rejected the bid, saying that it “materially undervalues” the business.

In response, Entain has now tabled an increased bid, with the acceptance period to run until 18 March. Entain previously extended this period from 18 February in order to allow enough time to secure all necessary approvals for the deal.

Enlabs’ independent bid committee informed Entain it would recommend Enlabs shareholders accept the increased offer and that its formal statement will be announced no later than one week prior to the expiry of the acceptance period.

Including the 42.2% of Enlabs shares owned by Entain board and shareholders, a total of 51.0% of shareholders with shares and votes in Enlabs have backed the new offer.

Entain said it would not increase its offer again and, subject to final shareholder and regulatory approval, hopes to complete the acquisition by the end of March.

“Entain will be the best home for Enlabs, its employees and customers,” Entain chief financial officer and deputy chief executive Rob Wood said.

“Against this background, we have decided to make a final offer of SEK53 to all shareholders, providing an opportunity to exit their investment at a very attractive valuation.

“We are pleased that shareholders with around 51% have now irrevocably agreed to accept the offer and would urge other shareholders to do the same by 18 March.”

Of the operator’s €594.6m (£514.0m/$716.8m) in revenue, €154.7m came from Italy, down 54.9%. Spain became Codere’s second-largest source of revnue with €116.4m, down 38.7%, while revenue from Mexico fell 68.2% to €97.8m.

Argentina – previously Codere’s second largest market – saw revenue fall 77.7% to €70.7m while revenue from Uruguay decreased by 29.6% to €52.3m. Panama contributed €22.7m, a 71.0% decline and Colombia €8.7m.

Codere made a further €71.3m from its online operations.

Codere’s operating expenses totalled €572.1m, 46.6% less than in 2019.

These costs included €223.9m in gaming taxes, down 54.8%. Codere’s personnel costs dipped 32.1% to €162.5m, costs of goods sold declined 45.1% to €27.9m other expenses dropped 35.4% to €158.5m.

After €159.6m in depreciation and amortisation, down 11.4%, and €42.6m in non-recurring expenses, 32.5% more than in 2019, Codere made an operating loss of €193.4m, compared to a profit of €94.3m in 2019.

After adjusting for inflation, this loss was €204.0m. Codere then made a net €57.5m financial loss, meaning its pre-tax loss was €261.5m, just under eight times 2019’s loss.

After taxes, Codere’s loss was €236.6, more than 280% more than the loss it made in 2019.

The losses in 2020 led to what Codere described as “pressure on liquidity”. As a result, the operator has called in financial advisors to find alternative methods to enhance liquidity and or boost its capital structure.

The operator said it’s in “constructive conversations” with an ad hoc committee of senior notes holders to work out such alternatives.

“The company expects to reach an agreement in the next weeks which will provide a solid foundation for the recovery of the operations in all of its markets,” Codere said.

The operator had previously faced liquidity questions, but moved to strengthen its position in July 2020, when it agreed a refinancing transaction with noteholders of 55.5% of its existing notes. However, these notes carried an initial interest rate of 12.75% that could then be lowered to 10.75%.

It is stating the obvious to say that the level of scrutiny and regulatory oversight of online operators’ marketing activities across European markets has increased significantly in recent years. 

The current situation in Great Britain is a case in point. In England alone eight Premier League clubs have gambling operators as shirt sponsors. And with marketing being the most high-profile of the industry’s activities, it was always bound to be closely scrutinised. 

In that respect Italy and Spain have gone further. The former has banned bookmakers and casinos from all major advertising platforms and the latter is set to introduce its own ban in the coming weeks. 

France is steering a different course on the matter. There is no talk of forbidding operators from advertising on radio or TV; even if there are regular complaints, from both inside and outside the industry, bemoaning the volume of adverts for online bookmakers during half-time breaks. 

Regulated operators also point out that marketing enables them to channel the vast majority of players to legal betting and gaming sites, even if context is also important in this instance. 

A recent report in the financial newspaper Les Echos highlighting the €1.4bn unregulated online casino industry that targets French players was shared widely by the European Gaming and Betting Association and other stakeholders to put pressure on EU regulators. 

When it comes to advertising however, it also showed that legal advertising was not always needed to develop a substantial vertical. Black and white hat SEO and online advertising are very efficient in developing a strong, albeit unregulated, igaming activity in a highly regulated market. 

“Serious concerns” 

In late January, France’s igaming regulator the Autorité Nationale des Jeux(ANJ) published a statement in laying out its roadmap for monitoring operators’ promotional strategies for 2021. Few could have expected to read its blunt words about the marketing practices of national lottery monopoly La Française des Jeux (FDJ) and its horse racing equivalent Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU). 

Describing the “specific case of the monopoly operators (FDJ and PMU)”, ANJ commented: “From an examination of the promotional strategies of these two operators under exclusive rights, it emerges that the Authority has serious concerns […], in particular with regard to the case law of the European Court of Justice and the State Council which recalls that the advertising efforts of the monopolies must remain measured and strictly limited to what is necessary to channel consumers into controlled gambling networks.

“In addition, in connection with this case law, ANJ will be vigilant to ensure that any advertising or promotional campaign by these operators does not hide behind arguments of general interest to give a positive image of gambling or to justify it.”

The wording is noteworthy and direct. Essentially ANJ is saying that FDJ and PMU are very close to glamorising gambling and giving it an overly positive image. Looking back at some of the recent decisions published by the ANJ’s monitoring committee (collège), things become clearer. 

An ANJ decision published on 21 January restated the point that under European law gambling monopolies must focus on channelling consumers to regulated products as part of a campaign of controlled growth. They must protect against excessive play and any potential for underage gambling, it continued. 

Noting the scope and ambition of both groups’ marketing strategies for 2021, ANJ warned that FDJ’s marketing should not “encourage a natural disposition towards gambling by 

making it appear commonplace or giving it a positive image linked to general interest activities or through the potential for major financial rewards.” 

Meanwhile PMU’s strategy to increase “the attractiveness of its offer and modernise its image can unintentionally lead to the targeting of young adults even though this category of the population presents a high risk of developing problem gambling” behaviours, ANJ said. 

It made similar points about FDJ’s targeting of younger demographics and in relation to both groups’ personalisation and customer loyalty strategies. It said this could increase the intensity and frequency of those consumers’ betting and gaming habits.

A quick look at this slick FDJ promotional video gives an idea of what ANJ is referring to. Furthermore, the regulator’s industry data for the third quarter of 2020 showed that 56% of operators’ marketing budgets were spent on acquisition and retention of players. This indicates why its statement focused on personalisation and customer loyalty in its statement. 

Competitive pressures

The proactive monitoring of operators’ marketing and promotional activities shouldn’t come as a surprise. ANJ’s new president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin spelled out her intention to put players at the heart of her work in an interview with iGB last year. 

If the wording of the comments towards both historic operators was somewhat surprising, it should also be viewed within the context of the commercial and competitive pressures FDJ and PMU are under. 

The pandemic has of course had a major impact on both companies’ retail activities. FDJ’s activities suffered in 2020, while for PMU the closures of many hippodromes across France last year was keenly felt. But overall both companies’ offline activities also illustrate how they need to reform and rejuvenate their clientele. 

The average age of a PMU retail client is 45 years old, compared with 35 for an online horse racing enthusiast and around 30 years old for an online sports betting and poker player. FDJ’s core demographics, considering retail sales remain by far its largest channel, are likely to be similar. 

The marketing drives undertaken by both companies should be seen in that context: strategies to modernise their respective images and attract a younger (online) player base that they can develop and maintain on a long-term basis. In theory this largely applies to their land-based activities. 

But when it comes to online verticals and specifically sports betting, FDJ’s Parions Sport and PMU.fr lag some distance behind the leading trio of Winamax, Betclic and Unibet. Those three brands each have around a 20% share of the online market, while PMU and FDJ hover around the 5% mark along with a number of other betting brands. 

PMU started its online adventure promisingly but has faded in recent years, while Parions Sport, for a number of reasons that were not always within FDJ’s control, never really got going. In addition, newer fixed odds entrants like Zebet, the sports betting site for horse racing tote Zeturf, are growing strongly through aggressive pricing and clever marketing. 

CSR central to business model

PMU told IGB that it was focused on meeting ANJ’s stated aim of preventing underage and problem gambling and fighting money laundering. 

This was “fundamental to how PMU carries out its activities, the group will put in place all the necessary measures to respond to those aims. 

“Beyond that, PMU must be a reference when it comes to responsible gambling and executes its strategy with that in mind.” 

FDJ meanwhile told IGB that ANJ had “reminded all operators, and not only FDJ and PMU, of the need to strike the right balance in their marketing of betting and gaming activities.”

With regard to its activities, FDJ added: “Corporate and social responsibility has always been central to FDJ’s business model; the group’s aim is to market its products, but its priority is responsible gaming. 

“To this end, the group has put in place specific measures, such as the commitment to devote 10% of its TV advertising budget to responsible gaming, a commitment not made by any other French operator.”

Clearly operators need to strike a balance between marketing their products, building their appeal and attractiveness and preventing problem gambling and underage gambling. 

FDJ said its “advertising and marketing strategy aims to promote a gaming model in which many players bet small amounts”. 

“For this model to be viable over the long term, it is essential to build loyalty among existing players for the lowest-stakes games and to recruit new players, while developing a growth model that upholds responsible gaming principles,” it explained. 

“All of FDJ’s marketing materials are developed with this ultimate goal in mind. They also help channel player demand into controlled networks.”

The group added it is supportive of regulation of gaming advertising in France and the ANJ’s monitoring and oversight to prevent the negative effects of excessive advertising that could encourage irresponsible gambling behaviour. Such behaviour would be detrimental to all operators, it said. 

“However, excessive restrictions – or even a total ban on gaming advertising – would be counterproductive, as they would favour the development of illegal online gaming activities, leaving players and minors less protected,” it continued. 

“Betting and gaming advertising is useful in that it channels player demand to controlled environments, promoting games that encourage moderate and responsible use. In this regard, ANJ has a key role to play, particularly with respect to online gaming activities, where advertising by operators is especially prevalent.”

With both FDJ and PMU’s retail activities hit hard by event cancellations and high street closures, the pressure is on to make up for lost revenue. Pandemic-permitting, the rescheduled European football championships and Olympic Games will present them with a major opportunity to sign up new payers. 

They and other betting brands will be marketing their products and promotions heavily. As a result, advertising budgets are expected to rise 26% this year on 2019 total of €239m (figures for 2020 are not accounted for as they were badly impacted by the pandemic).  

Little sympathy 

Speaking to contacts working with licensed private operators in France however, there is little sympathy for either FDJ or PMU. All point to the built-in commercial and regulatory advantages those groups have benefited from since 2010. 

Many of these, such as PMU’s co-mingling of online and retail player pools for horse racing, had to be fought and eventually defeated via long and costly legal battles. 

Others point to products such FDJ’s retail app (FDJ Points de vente), a bring your own device (BYOD) solution which is distinct from its betting app and allows punters to select a bet, which generates a QR code. They can then take the QR code to a high street outlet to scan and place their wager.

The bluntness of ANJ’s press release was striking, mainly because it is so rare to see such language directed at national operators. By way of comparison, many British operators are adamant that the National Lottery should be more closely monitored when it comes to marketing and player communications.

But ANJ’s remit has also expanded considerably when compared to its online-focused predecessor L’Autorité de régulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL). It oversees close to 80% of France’s gambling sector, including all FDJ and PMU retail outlets, whereas ARJEL only covered around 11% of the market. Its statements should also be seen in that context. 

It will be interesting to follow this topic in the coming months, especially if PMU and FDJ are unable to reclaim market share in the online sports betting vertical. But so far ANJ is doing what it said it would.