PMU modernisation focus outlined for 2026
Focus on updated racing and sports offers and RG, Paris clubs permanent &Co
Hello on Gaming&Co today:
RG focus and moderate growth the name of the game for PMU
Permanent move: Paris gaming clubs’ status confirmed by Senate
Spain: illegal market nreach revealed, Unibet hit with Netherlands fine, Meta’s illegal dot nl ads flourish
News shorts: Better Collective, OPAP, Sweden poker raid, Allwyn Digital CEO
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RG and moderate growth the name of the game for PMU
Regulator assessment of 2026 programme as PMU prepares new OSB platform
Modernised, with moderate growth: PMU’s 2026 strategic programme is set to “target moderate growth that will focus mainly on optimising its existing gaming offering”, the launch of its historical racing product and a revamp of its flagship Pick 5 game, but will also focus on preventing excessive gambling, analysis of the group’s strategic outline for next year carried out by the Autorité Nationale des Jeux has revealed. The news comes as SBC News reported that the group had received approval from ANJ for Kambi’s online sports betting software client and API, suggesting an OSB partnership between the two companies.
5x5: The regulator also called on PMU to closely monitor its communications and marketing campaigns related to key products such as Pick 5 and Quinté+ as they showed a “high level of risk of excessive gambling across the operator’s entire horse racing betting offering”, ANJ said, according to a French study of racing betting patterns called ‘ELPHI’. The measurements will be based on the harm assessments laid out in the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI).
ANJ added that the need for “identifying and supporting excessive or pathological gamblers is particularly acute” for PMU as data from France’s Addiction and Toxicology Observatory revealed that rates of problem gambling among racing punters were around 16% in 2019 and 17% in 2023, “some of the highest in the market”, the authority said.
Life of excess: The ELPHI data also showed that out of nearly 400 racing punters, 22.6% showed signs of excessive gambling, with 8% of them betting exclusively at PMU’s retail outlets. The study also highlighted “particular vulnerabilities among 18-34 year olds, who are 4.6 times more likely to report excessive gambling, and for whom problem gambling across all (racing) betting (retail, online and racecourses) reaches 63.1%, with the excessive gambling rate at 46.8%”.
To address this, PMU has implemented ID and age controls across a minimum of 1,700 physical sales points (out of 14,500 in France) and in hippodromes across the country. ANJ will also continue its ‘mystery shopper’ activities to monitor the issue, adding that it was “incumbent on PMU” to pursue efforts undertaken since 2021 to significantly increase and in the shortest delays the number of excessive gamblers that are identified and supported.
International volumes: ANJ also noted that its request that the volume of bets from “international bettors” be reduced had been followed in the first eight months of 2025, although it did not specify what the exact percentage drop was. The objective of the move is to reduce the influence of betting syndicates on PMU’s liquidity and prices and increase the chances of French players winning. The regulator added that it wants to see a capping of betting syndicates’ bets during the last three minutes of a race and their exclusion from PMU’s highly popular product Quinté +.
The rollout of PMU’s historic racing products will also be closely monitored with regard to the volume of bets offered and the times at which they’re available to ensure PMU meets its licensing requirements.
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Permanent move: Paris gaming clubs’ status confirmed
Industry wish granted after seven years of operations
No more experimenting: Casinos de France has welcomed the approval by the French Senate of an amendment that ends the experimental regime for gaming clubs in Paris and establishes their permanent status, which it said marked “a long-awaited and necessary step forward, finally providing a clear legal framework and giving visibility to a proven model”.
Gaming clubs first appeared in the capital, casinos are not allowed in major French towns, with an experimental status in 2018 and with the aim of replacing the cercles de jeux, their previous iteration, that were largely run by organised crime syndicates.
Now managed by established operators such as Barrière, Circus or Partouche, CdF said they had demonstrated “their effectiveness as a legal regulated, and transparent alternative to the former gambling clubs” thanks to strict standards in terms of integrity, prevention of excessive gambling and anti-money laundering.
At the end of 2024 they were inadvertent victims of French politicians’ inability to pass a budget for 2025 and were forced to close for two months at the start of the year. They generate around €120m in annual GGR, €40m in taxes for the State and €10m for the city of Paris. The clubs’ status should be confirmed in the final version of France’s draft budget in the coming weeks.
Spain’s black market reach
Illegal operators prosper thanks to social media and bigger bonuses
Access all areas: A survey commissioned by Spain’s online gaming trade body JDigital has revealed that nearly 24% of the respondents had played on unregulated websites at least once in the past year, while another 9.3% admitted doing so in full knowledge of their actions. The report is the first outline of the prevalence of illegal iGaming in the country and highlighted how easy access, aggressive marketing on social media and a general lack of information all contributed to the phenomenon.
The audit firm EY carried out a survey of 1,095 adults aged 18 to 65 and Jorge Hinojosa, CEO of Jdigital, said it showed how “illegal gambling is not a marginal phenomenon, but a real risk for thousands of users. Protecting the player requires strengthening information, channeling to licensed operators and stronger institutional cooperation.”
The JDigital study follows a similar study by its French counterpart AFJEL at the start of November and numerous warnings about the illegal market in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. According to EY, illegal online gambling in Spain generated €231m in 2024, or 16% of the country’s regulated revenues.
Lack of awareness: Players aged 18-24 had the highest rate of illegal platform use at 16%, but 47.5% said they were not aware they were playing on unregulated sites.
Social networks led 38% of them to illegal sites and 4% of them found out about the sites through the messaging app Telegram.
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Unibet Netherlands hit with €4m fine
Second major fine in weeks for FDJ brand as NL trade body highlights Meta illegal ads
Heavy billings: Unibet has been fined €4m by the Dutch gambling regulator KSA for RG and AML failures between July 2022, shortly after it re-entered the Dutch market as a regulated operator, and July 2024. The fine was issued to Unibet’s parent company Optdeck Service Ltd. The fine is a second major penalty in the space of just over a month for Unibet’s parent company FDJ United, after it was hit with a £10m sanction by the UK Gambling Commission in October.
Acknowledging its shortcomings, United said its duty of care “to provide a safe gaming environment very seriously at all times” and that it should “have acted earlier in some cases”, although it also disagreed “with some of the conclusions” as KSA’s decisions “relate to June 2022–July 2024, when the rules were less specific than they are now”.
KSA chairman Michel Groothuizen said: “When there are signs of excessive gambling and someone wagers a large amount of money in a short period of time, a provider must promptly investigate the source of the money. He added that the KSA took “duty of care violations” by operators “very seriously and will continue to take strong action against them”.
No stopping Meta: Meanwhile, recent research by the Dutch iGaming trade body VNLOK has found that 95.5% of gambling advertisements that appeared on Facebook and Instagram were for illegal online casinos. Out of 64,622 advertisements targeting Dutch citizens, 61,717 advertised gambling sites without a Dutch license. The news follows a recent report by Reuters that Meta recorded around $16bn from illegal gambling, online scams and banned products.
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News shorts
Better Collective has gone live in the newly-regulated state of Missouri. The group said it had coordinated closely with the licensed sportsbooks to ensure it is ready for the launch with pre-registration drives in the lead-up to the official market opening.
OPAP has signed a 12-year agreement to operate Greece’s national lottery and will pay a one-off fee of €80m, 30% of its annual GGR and a minimum revenue share of €20m a year as part of the agreement.
Swedish police performed a dramatic armed raid on the Krukan poker club in Stockholm last weekend as around 100 players were taking part in a €100 buy-in tournament in an operation organised by Europol, the Swedish Gambling Authority and the Swedish Enforcement Authority.
According to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the raid was part of awider crackdown on suspected illegal gambling and organised crime. Three men were arrested at separate addresses in Stockholm and are suspected of illegal gambling and money laundering.
Kresimir Spajic has been named CEO of Allwyn Digital after two years at the helm of Betfred USA, where he led the UK bookmaker’s operations in the US. In his new role, he will lead the digital and omnichannel development of Allwyn, which recently spent $1.6bn to acquire a majority stake in the US fantasy betting market leader Prize Picks.
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