FDJ takes centre stage
FDJ key player in any regulatory evolution, DAZN soon free in France?, Entain-MGM &Co
Hello, on Gaming & Co today:
FDJ will be at the centre of any evolution of French iCasino regulation.
DAZN free in Germany, soon in France (and elsewhere)?
Entain CEO resigns, BetMGM in MGM’s sights.
News en brief : Loto-Québec, Eilers & Kreijcik UK app tests , Genius-FIBA.
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FDJ at the centre of the debate
Discussions about potential possible regulation of online casinos in France have made one thing clear: Française des Jeux will be the key player in any evolution of the sector.
Unanswered question: While the recent report from the Autorité Nationale des Jeux on the illegal online casino market in France confirmed estimates of its size, questions around the regulation of the vertical and possible exclusivity for FDJ continue to weigh on the French online gaming sector.
Is such a scenario really likely? Impossible to say, but one thing is clear: FDJ will be a key player in any developments in the sector.
Gaming & Co recently revealed the potential scenario of FDJ’s iCasino exclusivity and a contact explained that "the authorities could present it as a three or five-year experiment with a review set at the halfway point, emulating what they did with the web3 regulations”.
Let's play detectives: Stéphane Pallez, CEO of FDJ, also mentioned a two-stage scenario in response to a question on the regulation of online casino at a conference on gambling organised by the MP Eric Woerth in June: first an experiment, then a wider opening.
Open field for FDJ: Over the past six months, the French online gambling trade body (AFJEL) and the land-based industry group Casinos de France have tried via amendments and draft law (CdF’s JADE project) to get online casino regulations on the statute books. The attempts were rejected by the government, leaving the field wide open for the FDJ.
In its report on the gambling sector published in September, France’s national audit office, the Cour des Comptes, also raised the issue of regulating online casino games.
It said the subject was topical and that "the possibility of their authorisation would mean the end of land-based casinos' monopoly on table games and slot machines, (and) was a matter of concern for casinos, local authorities and FDJ".
Outlining the various regulatory options: open competition as in Sweden and Denmark, reserved for operators who already have a physical establishment, as in Switzerland and Belgium - it said that Casinos de France's plan to grant exclusive rights to casino operators so that land-based and digital offerings were mirrored "requires in-depth legal work, in order to reconcile it with the case law of the Europe Court of Justice".
But as one Gaming & Co contact noted: "If the question of compliance with European competition law is raised for CdF's JADE project, it would be incredible if this were not the case for a possible online casino exclusivity granted to FDJ".
FDJ is also currently the subject of European Commission proceedings for illegal state aid in connection with its privatisation in 2019.
As part of the deal, FDJ paid €380m to the government in exchange for a 25-year lottery and retail sports betting monopoly. AFJEL considers this amount to be insufficient and has lodged a complaint with the European Commission.
In an opinion published in 2021, the Commission stated that it doubted "whether the remuneration of €380m due by FDJ corresponds to market conditions".
Payout level is the only difference: Referring back to the Cour des Comptes report, it noted that FDJ's online scratchcards and instant games were "similar in appearance to online slot machines, (but) differ from them in the significant criterion of a payout ratio of less than 75%, compared with 95% for slot machines".
The court also stated that "the complexity of the subject should not lead to further delay in the necessary consideration of all its dimensions" and called for all stakeholders to be involved.
Wrong version: The ANJ report on illegal online casinos, which was expected this summer, came out last week, but the initial version published on the ANJ website named a major B2B supplier as a key player in the illegal online casino market in France.
Two firm letters from the group's lawyers, one to PwC (the authors of the report) and the other to the ANJ, enabled a new report to be quickly uploaded without the company's name in it.
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DAZN free in Germany, France to follow soon?
Sports streaming platform DAZN has launched a free offer for some of its football matches in Germany, and could soon do the same in France.
German viewers were recently able to watch matches from La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy) and the Women's Champions League free of charge.
Alice Mascia, head of marketing at DAZN, told Bild that the free offer will be launched "initially in German-speaking markets before a global roll-out."
DAZN has been active in France since the summer, broadcasting two matches every weekend thanks to a co-broadcasting agreement with Canal+.
Its CEO Shay Segev said in September that DAZN wanted to be "a major player" in the French sports broadcasting landscape.
The Ligue de Football Professionnel's call for tender for TV rights from 2024-2029 has been unsuccessful and it is now in direct negotiations with DAZN and Amazon Prime Video for individual deals.
CAN I kick it? IMG will be the exclusive distributor of TV rights to the African Cup of Nations (CAN) in 85 territories of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for 2023-2025, but not in the Middle East, North Africa or sub-Saharan Africa. The CAN will be held in the Ivory Coast in 2024 and Morocco in 2025.
Entain CEO resigns, MGM sights on BetMGM
As Entain CEO Jette Nygaard-Andersen bowed to pressure from activist investors and announced her resignation last week, the news that Corvex Management acquired a 4.4% stake in the British group makes a bid by MGM for Entain’s 50% stake in BetMGM even more likely.
Kindred spirit: Corvex is a New York-based hedge fund and activist investor which also owns 15% of Unibet parent company Kindred Group and has been pushing for a sale of the Scandinavian group for many months.
Corvex also has a 1.5% stake in MGM Resorts, the American casino giant which owns 50% of BetMGM, the joint venture it operates with Entain and is the number 3 sports betting brand in the US.
MGM’s longstanding wish has been to buy out Entain's 50% stake in the JV, but it has so far been unable to find the right vehicle to carry out the deal.
However, such an outcome could be closer as Entain is said to be on the verge of appointing Ricky Sandler, CEO of investment fund Eminence Capital, to its board. Sandler has previously called for Entain to sell its BetMGM stake to MGM Resorts.
News in brief
Loto-Québec reported flat revenues of CA$1.4bn while net revenues were down 8.5% to CA$737m for the six month period to the end of September. The group said that with the exception of the 2022 equivalent period, "which had been exceptional", the company was experiencing "its best performance for several years" and was continuing its modernisation programme.
Lottery GGR was down 3% at CA$453m, with 12.5% of the total generated by the online segment, and at CA$528m, casinos and gaming venues were down 4%YoY, with 26.3% of the total generated by the digital segment. GGR from retail gaming fell by 3% to $441m.
According to Eilers & Krejcik, the top three sports betting apps in the UK are Bet365, Paddy Power and Sky Bet. The group tested 20 apps from October to November 2023.
Genius Sports has extended its partnership with FIBA, the world basketball federation for 2025-2035 and will provide it with its computer vision and artificial intelligence data and statistics around basketball.
Calendar
18 Jan: Flutter Entertainment
6-8 Feb: ICE London
Contact
Contact Jake Pollard to find out more about Gaming and Co: jake@gamingandco.info