FDJ completes ZEturf acquisition
French national lottery operator Française des Jeux has bought the operator for €175m.
France.- The national lottery operator Française des Jeux (FDJ) has announced the completion of its acquisition of the online horse racing betting operator ZEturf Group. The operator had gained competition approval for the €175m deal last month.
FDJ says the deal will help it expand its presence in the online gambling market. ZEturf, which was established in 2001, holds around 20 per cent of the market share in France in online horse racing betting. It is also present in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.
It’s the second biggest operator in the French online horse racing betting market behind PMU, which retains the monopoly on betting at physical points of sale. It also operates the ZEbet brand, dedicated to online sports betting. With around 100 employees, it processed close to €800m in wagers and over €100m in pool bets in 2021, with half of bets coming from online horse racing betting. Revenue reached €50m.
FDJ CEO and chairwoman Stéphane Pallez said: “The acquisition of ZEturf marks a new chapter for FDJ. It strengthens our position in the French market for online games open to competition.
“Following the launch of our poker business, our entry into the world of online horse-race betting rounds out our diversified online range and bolsters FDJ Group’s growth prospects while remaining aligned with our responsible gaming model.”
Competition questions over the ZEturf deal
The deal was notified to the French Competition Authority for evaluation of the two operators’ combined market share. The authority concluded that “in view of the low combined market shares of the parties” there is no “risk of harm to competition through horizontal effects” but that where were “competitive problems resulting from the concentration within the same entity of FDJ’s monopoly activities linked to the distribution of games and betting and ZEturf’s activities on the online horse racing and sports betting markets”.
To gain approval, FDJ said it would ensure that it “clearly separates the exercise of its monopoly gaming activities” (lottery, scratch games, etc). Player accounts will be specific to each activity without the possibility of a gateway and the FDJ must not create a database of customers intended for the promotion of its competitive gaming activities which would reveal data relating to monopoly gaming players.
FDJ will not be able to promote its online betting at points of sale in its network or to online lottery players, and will have to operate separate social network accounts for the different activities. The FDJ has also committed to organising its competitive gaming activities within one or more dedicated subsidiaries.
