French iCasino regulation not “a matter of if, but when”, says Banijay Chairman
Stéphane Courbit cites illegal market and debt levels, Sorare, VPN block &Co
Good morning, on Gaming&Co today:
French iCasino regulation a matter of time, says Banijay Chairman
Sorare in the spotlight for offering Klarna payments to buy NFTs
Late consolation: VPNs ordered to block football streaming sites
IGT wins Italian lottery contract, News shorts: TGP Europ, Romania
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iCasino regulation a matter of time, says Banijay chairman
Illegal market and debt levels key reasons for France to regulate vertical
When, what, where…: Stéphane Courbit, Chairman of Betclic’s parent company Banijay Entertainment, told analysts and investors that online casino regulation was not “a matter of if, but when” it would happen in France in the next few years. Speaking during the group’s capital markets day, Courbit gave as reasons for his statement that “there are more than 4 million people who are playing (online casino) every day, irregularly, illegally, in France”.
He added that France and its government have “huge debt levels” and could not afford to miss out on the “€1.5bn or €2bn” that regulation of the vertical could generate in tax revenues. “So it will happen, the government of Michel Barnier started the process but it was stopped. But it's not a question of if, it’s a question of when”.
Right platform: Discussing Banijay’s online gambling activities, Betclic CEO Nicolas Béraud emphasised that the tech know-how and in-house capabilities of France’s online sports betting leader meant it is now ready to scale up and add new territories quickly and seamlessly should it decide to launch in new markets, including via M&A.
With its iGaming potential still “largely untapped, we are developing games based on Banijay IP and 20% of iGaming revenues are set to come from exclusive content”, Béraud added.
Dealmakers: He also noted that Betclic is “now in a position where we can create value thanks to transformative M&A powered by our tech platform” and that many large operators had carried out numerous acquisitions and “finished with 20 different tech platforms where it was impossible to carry out synergies. At Betclic we are ready to accelerate, integrate different projects, markets, regulations, brands and operate them”.
Liquid state: Africa and Latin America will be key regions of focus, but not the US, and the group will seek to increase its share liquidity to bring in new investors and “make bigger deals”, said François Riahi, CEO of Banijay.
Banijay organised the event as Betclic revealed Q1 revenues of €381m, an 18% YoY increase, thanks to “strong growth in all products and geographies”, with adj. EBITDA rising 21% to €102m. At group level it recorded revenues of €1bn and adj. EBITDA of €190m in Q1 and raised revenue guidance to €7bn and adj. EBITDA in excess of €1.2bn by 2028.
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Sorare and so late in the day
Sorare offering Klarna’s pay later option raises French hackles
BNPL: The French NFT-fantasy betting operator Sorare was in the spotlight last week following a Linkedin post by the French MP Philippe Latombe that highlighted the fact that its players could use the buy-now-pay-later provider Klarna as one of its payment options. In the post, Latombe said the service was active since 19th March and offered players the option of paying for their NFTs in installments over a 30-day period.
Loans-r-us: The arrangement meant the new payment option was “comparable to loans within the meaning of the Consumer Code”, Latombe said, and “the overdraft facilities offered by Klarna therefore seem to be prohibited to JONUM companies and therefore to Sorare”. He called on Clara Chappaz, France’s Minister for Digital Affairs, to investigate the matter.
France is currently ratifying the decrees that will set out JONUM regulations. These are due to come into effect in September and Sorare will comply with them at that time. Recall, real money operators in France and other countries like the UK are not allowed to offer loans or credit to players.
Single-use law: The reemergence of JONUMs into the public sphere is likely to set real money gaming executives on edge in France. The legislative text passed in Oct23 amid strong criticisms from MPs and executives from both casino and OSB verticals, who said the government had designed the law purely to enable Sorare to operate within a legal framework in France.
Time and scale: Critics also make the point that come September, “Sorare will have been able to operate free of any binding regulations for close to two years”. With sales of just over $98m in 2024, the critics also note that the company makes a fraction of the revenues generated by operators like Betclic or Groupe Barrière and since it will be regulated by the gambling regulator Autorité Nationale des Jeux, it should be "integrated into the existing gambling framework".
For its part, ANJ told Gaming&Co that it had identified the Klarna payment option and that it “is at the very least problematic in light of the provisions of the SREN Act (Digital Act), which prohibit a JONUM company from ‘granting players loans in legal tender or in cryptoassets (...) with a view to enabling the purchase of monetisable digital objects or other rewards that may be awarded’”.
The regulator will enter into dialogue with Sorare to ensure that it complies with its legal obligations on this point as soon as the decrees come into force in September. Meanwhile, the Gambling Commission is prosecuting Sorare for offering unlicensed gambling in the UK.
A spokesperson for Sorare told G&Co: “We offer Klarna’s 'Pay Later' option as an optional payment facility provided by Klarna Bank AB, (which) conducts comprehensive checks for each transaction to ensure that the service is only available to users who meet their strict criteria. Once the new regulatory French framework tailored to Sorare's activities (JONUM) comes into force, Sorare will enact the necessary measures to be in compliance with the new applicable requirements in France.”
France orders VPNs to block Ligue 1 streaming sites
Better late than never: A Paris tribunal has ordered VPN providers such as NordVPN, Surfshark and Proton to block access to hundreds of streaming sites offering French Ligue 1 and Champions League coverage.
French football is trying to address the instability that has surrounded its funding model for the past few years and companies like DAZN, along with Betclic Group, Unibet and Winamax will also be hoping the move helps French football fans reconnect with and wager on Ligue 1.
Data stat: In 2024 the Champions League recorded a higher share of French players' bets than Ligue 1, La Liga or the Premier League, according to the Autorité Nationale des Jeux’s 2024 annual report.
Read the full news article on SBC News
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Italy awards lottery contract to IGT
Sale of digital assets and lottery contract will boost IGT growth, but fee hike is noticed
Jackpot: IGT’s consortium, including Allwyn and Lottomatica, has won the Italian lottery tender in a deal that will see the firms pay €2.23bn in upfront fees between now and April 2026. The team at Macquarie said the group expects the contract to generate similar revenues to the previous Italian lottery contract, while Truist noted that the €2.23bn fee was “larger than anticipated”.
“IGT will pay €500M and €300M in 2025 and the remainder in 2026. This compares to the €1B minimum payment and is substantially larger than €770M payment in the prior 2016 process,” said Truist.
IGT saw its Q1 revenue drop 11% to $583m due to calendar shifts in product sales and lower jackpot activity and vs. Street consensus of $628m. As a result the group lowered 2025 guidance towards the low end of its $2.5bn forecast. Adj. EBITDA was down 24% to $250m.
The lottery bid and the sale of its ‘Digital & Gaming’ division in Q3 will be key catalysts for IGT. Macquarie added that IGT was also in discussions “to expand the Italy B2C digital business to include iCasino and sports betting, which management believes will materially increase IGT's growth profile”.
News shorts
The white label solutions provider TGP Europe has exited the UK market following an investigation by the UK Gambling Commission that revealed that it had “failed to carry out sufficient checks on business partners and breaching anti-money laundering rules”.
The news comes as UKGC attempts to deter English Premier League clubs from accepting Asia-focused sportsbooks as shirt sponsors and, while it wants EPL clubs to ensure those sponsors don’t take bets from UK players, those sites’ main interest is the Premier League's global reach and the exposure their brands get in Asian markets through TV coverage.
In other words there is little the Commission can do to stop the sponsorships, while football clubs will point to commercial imperatives as reasons for accepting them as marketing partners. TGP Europe previously operated out of the Isle of Man but handed its licence back in 2019. In 2023 it was issued a £330,000 penalty by UKGC.
Vlad-Cristian Soare, the new President of the National Gambling Office of Romania (ONJN), has called for "professionalism and balance” as he starts his work with the country’s gambling regulator. Soare’s appointment comes as Romania has undergone a prolonged period of political instability, with the Office under significant major pressure for its failure to audit taxes and authorisation fees, which have cost the Romanian government a near €1bn in lost income.
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