France’s PMU names Cyrille Giraudat as new CEO
Giraudat will replace Emmanuelle Malecaze-Doublet and aim to accelerate the betting operator’s development and transformation.
France.- The state-controlled horseracing betting operator Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) has named Cyrille Giraudat as its new CEO. From the start of January 2026, he will step into the role vacated by Emmanuelle Malecaze-Doublet, who stepped down in September after almost three years. Since then, Christophe Curt has been serving as interim CEO.
The appointment marks a return to the operator for Giraudat. Between 2004 and 2014, he worked as the betting operator’s marketing, customer and digital director.
Since then he has worked as director of digital, marketing and innovation at RATP Dev, as customer director at Europcar Group and, most recently, as the real estate company Nexity‘s director of marketing, customer and digital, a position he began in 2022.
Aged 61, Giraudat is a graduate of École Centrale de Lille. He began his career in consulting before joining the Danone group in marketing roles in France and internationally. He later joined Thomson Multimedia as European marketing director and then Samsung as French marketing director.
His appointment as CEO was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Food Sovereignty and the Ministry of Public Action and Accounts.
According to PMU, “Giraudat’s priorities will focus on accelerating the development and transformation of PMU and strengthening customer satisfaction within a sustainable and responsible gaming framework.”
PMU still holds a monopoly on off-track retail horseracing betting in France but faces competition online from Zeturf, now owned by the former state-controlled operator FDJ. It has expanded into other forms of betting as well as a poker offering.
France has recently seen intense debate over whether to expand online gambling beyond those options to include online casino games. Land-based casinos remain staunchly opposed to the prospect.
