Cool it: Betclic tells punters to stop harassing athletes
French OSB leader launches anti-cyberbullying campaign, KSA disagrees with ad ban, ANJ's Word Cup warning, Parions Sport-Unibet &Co
Hello, on Gaming&Co today,
No blame: Betclic launches anti-cyberbullying campaign
Dutch regulator disagrees with government’s proposed advertising ban
ANJ issues World Cup warning, FDJ’s Parions Sport => Unibet.fr from March,
Euro & results round up: PMU, Germany, Super-Maxbet, Flutter-BHA, Kambi, Caesars Entertainment, Hacksaw Gaming
NIBS: DraftKings, Colombia, ATG
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Betclic launches anti-harassement campaign
European powerhouse urges punters not to blame athletes if results don’t go their way
No to the blame game: Betclic has launched a major anti-cyberbullying campaign aimed at protecting athletes from online and, in some cases, real-life harassment, insults and threats from disgruntled punters unhappy that particular sporting results did not go their way. As part of the campaign, the French OSB market leader said it had activated “an unprecedented arsenal to combat cyberbullying of sportspeople (athletes and referees), trainers and coaches, in partnership with several (French) sports federations and professional leagues”.
The move comes as 85% of professional athletes, including stars such as the tennis player Gaël Monfils and US track and field athlete Gabby Thomas, have reported being harassed by bettors and spoken out against it.
Dividing lines: Working with French football, rugby, volleyball, handball, basketball and tennis leagues and federations, Betclic will launch a major social media campaign with the tagline: “When you love sport, there are lines you mustn’t cross”.
Maximum respect: The group said it will address the situation by working with the NGO Respect Zone to become the first sports betting operator to include a commitment agreement against in-app cyberbullying in its registration process. When registering with the platform, players will be required to formally agree not to engage in harassment, insults or threats against athletes, coaches or referees via a new section on digital responsibility and behaviour.
Trigger warning: As part of the measures, Betclic will also partner with France’s Ministry of Sport, its digital and broadcasting regulator ARCOM and the Council of Europe and train its community management teams to ensure its brand communications “never contribute to triggering, relaying or amplifying cyberbullying”. The new rules will apply to Betclic’s 5.5 million bettors, who will have to accept them in order to continue using the platform.
Philippe Coen, President of Respect Zone, said: “Cyberbullying is a major societal phenomenon (and) despite the values it embodies, sport is not immune: athletes and sports figures are increasingly exposed to waves of online hate and violence. Respect Zone is delighted to be partnering with Betclic to develop concrete solutions, protect athletes and bring about lasting change in collective behaviour.”
Julien Brun, CEO of Betclic Group, added that the scale of social media had drastically altered the landscape for those involved. “No defeat, no result, no lost bet justifies insults, threats or harassment. Together with our partners in the sporting world, we are drawing a clear line: passion for sport is a force that should bring us together, but should never harm those who bring it to life.”
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Dutch regulator to battle government over ad ban pledge
KSA boss says plan to reduce licences and prohibit online ads is “unhelpful”
Not on my watch: The Dutch gambling regulator is set to go head-to-head with its country’s new government over a pledge to ban online gambling advertising and reduce the number of available licences. The intervention of Michel Groothuizen, Chairman of the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA), is notable and unusual in that he is publicly disagreeing with his government’s plans, as part of an effort to stave off what he sees as a potentially excessive crackdown.
Black market lure: In a blog posted on the KSA website, Groothuizen said black market advertising already outnumbers that of legal operators and “the only consequence of this ban will be that players will be lured away from the legal market even more than now”. His comments also follow recent revelations on the scale of illegal advertising and how much revenue it generates for platforms like Facebook.
It’s a wipeout: The prospect of a total wipeout of online gambling adverts has emerged thanks to a coalition agreement inked by the incoming government, headed by Rob Jetten of the centre-left D66 party. A general election in October 2025 saw Jetten narrowly emerge as the most likely candidate for Prime Minister, but it has taken until now to conclude coalition negotiations with fellow centrist parties VVD and CDA.
In the document laying out their policy priorities, the three parties lumped gambling in with drugs and sex work and promised to investigate limiting the number of online gambling licences.
Please, stop: Groothuizen also expressed “reservations” about this pledge and predicted that reducing the number of operators in the market would not lower the amount of advertising.
Jetten’s plans also ignore the reality that the number of licensed operators in the Dutch online market has been in decline since shortly after it launched in 2021. Operators such as Livescore say they have been pushed out by increased tax rates, new affordability rules and an existing ban on “un-targeted” advertising.
Groothuizen said the KSA agrees with calls by the incoming Prime Minister to strictly enforce duty of care rules and increase the level of enforcement against the black market, however.
The new government is far from certain to realise all of its policy ambitions, not least because it will govern as a minority coalition, although the overwhelmingly negative view of gambling in the Dutch parliament in recent years means that finding allies to enact tougher rules is unlikely to be a challenge.
ANJ warns operators not to abuse ‘hydration breaks’
Intense summer heat will potentially provide two extra advertising slots for betting brands
Watercoolers: The World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico is set to lead to a 25% rise in French operators’ marketing budgets in 2026 and, with FIFA introducing two ‘hydration breaks’ of two minutes each to enable players to cope with the intense summer heat during games, France’s Autorité Nationale des Jeux has reminded French sports betting brands to control their spend so as not to overstep the budgets they set out as part of their annual marketing strategies.
Gateway slots: The hydration or water breaks will provide additional advertising slots for TV networks, but they have also reinforced ANJ’s concerns that over-exposure to betting products could lead to a rise in problem gambling, especially for 18-24 year-olds, who represent 18% of sports betting punters in France.
No betting commercials: The regulator also revealed that following discussions with broadcasters, one major network had already decided not to “commercialise the refreshment breaks to advertisers in the real money gambling sector”.
ANJ called for a UK-style whistle to whistle advertising ban last summer and urged all industry actors to show moderation in their use of advertising spaces and partnership activations during the Word Cup.
Parions Sport to become Unibet.fr from March
Move is part of corporate plan to move to Unibet in France and eventually to KSP
Unity is strength: Parions Sport, the heritage sportsbook brand of FDJ United, will migrate its full online experience to Unibet.fr in March 2026. The move follows FDJ’s €2.5bn acquisition of Kindred Group in October 2024, which included Unibet and 32Red, and will also see the group migrate all its online sports betting activities to the Kindred Sportsbook Platform.
Merger mode: Customers have been promised a seamless transition, with verified documents, balances, open bets and responsible gaming limits automatically transferred. Players holding accounts with both brands will be able to merge them into a single digital wallet.
From a branding perspective, Parions Sport is well known thanks to its presence across FDJ’s retail network of over 29,000 outlets across France. The move is therefore expected to boost Unibet’s standing, although the online brand also has a long history in the country.
The migration is part of FDJ’s “Play It Forward 2028” strategic plan, which plans to save around 30% of group income from synergies carried out between Parions Sport, Unibet and ZEturf.
FDJ United will be announcing Q4 and FY25 results tomorrow morning. Its last results statement showed Q3 revenues were down 3% to €864m and down 2% to €2bn for the nine-month period to the end of September.
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Euro & results roundup
Woerth under pressure
The candidacy of Eric Woerth, the French MP who was at the heart of France’s iGaming regulation in 2010 and is widely expected to be PMU’s new board chairman, is under pressure as industry observers point to the ease with which he would transfer from his public role in politics to such a high profile private position in one of France’s flagship companies.
Paris-Turf is reporting that the Syndicat Hippique National (SHN) has called out what it sees as a cosy arrangement between PMU’s two institutional stakeholders France Galop and trotting body SETF to install Woerth in the role.
Other candidates included Jean-Luc Moner-Banet, CEO of Loterie Romande or former PMU CEO Philippe Germond. Speaking of France Galop, Elie Hennau’s contract as CEO came to an end last week with immediate effect.
Top marks
Germany’s OASIS self-exclusion system was checked 5 billion times in 2025 alone, according to an update from the Regional Council of Darmstadt. Each check represents a query from a gambling operator to see if their customer is on the excluded list.
OASIS and the more controversial LUGAS system, which enforces market-wide deposit limits, are both up for assessment as Germany begins a years-long review of its gambling law this year. New rules are not expected to be in place until 2029.
Romanian team-up
Super Technologies, formerly the Super Bet Group, has purchased fellow Romanian gambling operator Maxbet for an undisclosed sum. The purchase also includes Maxbet’s operations in Malta and will see Super consolidate its position in Central and Eastern Europe, executives said.
New angles: Having rebranded in December, Super says it will explore opportunities in the B2B space, having spent much of last year carving out a successful place in the newly regulated Brazilian B2C market.
No more horsing around
Flutter has warned that potential new punters are being turned off by the cost of attending races, complex terminology and concerns about the welfare of horses. The findings were made during Flutter’s ‘Future of Racing’ summit aimed at rebooting British racing, and which was held in partnership with the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). It also saw 10 startup firms pitch new tech solutions to help revitalise the industry.
Results
Kambi added ComeOn, FDJ United, Coolbet and Superbet to its Odds Feed+ client roster during Q4 but revenues were down 4% to €42.7m as adj. EBITDA dropped 12.5% to €6.2m.
Kambi also signed SuomiVeto during the period and will launch the brand in Finland when market regulation goes live in 2027. SuomiVeto is led by the team behind BetCity in the Netherlands, which also operates on Kambi’s betting platform. Shortly after launch in 2021, BetCity was acquired by UK giant Entain in 2023 for €300m.
Caesars Entertainment’s digital activities stood out in Q4 as online revenues beat forecasts by 11% YoY to $85m, with OSB handle rising 4% and online casino up 28%. Caesars said it was on course to hit its $500m EBITDA target in 2027.
Overall, Q4 revenues were flat at $2.9bn and EBITDAR was up 2% to $901m, but questions remain over demand in Las Vegas as “leisure trends remain soft” YoY, said Macquarie.
The Swedish iGaming provider Hacksaw Gaming recorded a strong Q4 as revenues increased 26% to €55m and adj. EBIT rose 28% to €45m, meaning the group enjoyed margins of 82%. During the period the company also secured a supplier’s licence in Alberta, Canada. On an annual basis, revenues were up 44% to €197.5m and adj. EBIT was up 39% to €161.4m.
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News shorts
DraftKings cofounder Jason Robins has been tapped by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to join a group advertising the body on innovation. The CFTC oversees the controversial prediction markets in the US - a sector that DraftKings recently entered after cutting lobbying ties with the nation’s legacy casino industry.
Colombian gambling operators still face a new 19% VAT tax on gambling revenues, despite a favourable court ruling. In an ongoing row over how to plug holes in the country’s budget, President Gustavo Petro has signalled his intent to keep the controversial new rate in place.
After a year of declining revenue, Swedish horserace betting specialist ATG has moved to replace its CEO. Hasse Lord Skarplöth has left the ex-monopoly operator, with board chair Peter Norman stepping in as interim CEO for the time being.
iGaming provider EveryMatrix has obtained a manufacturer’s licence from the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board in South Africa and is now authorised to provide its sports, casino, player account management (PAM) platform products to operators in the country.
Calendar
Results: Feb 19: FDJ United, Mar 2 : Lottomatica, Mar 5 : Banijay Group
Contact
Get in touch with Jake Pollard to find out more about Gaming&Co: jake@gamingandco.info