Unibet is back sipping a glass of rouge and tucking into frog’s legs after ARJEL presented them with three shiny licenses. The company will be able to offer regulated horse betting, sports betting and poker using the Unibet.fr domain after acquiring Solfive Group last month. Unibet had been one of the first to obtain a license to operate in France. They pulled out citing the exorbitant tax rate and are fully aware that the situation is still remarkably similar. Christophe Dhaisne, Unibet’s head of licensed markets, told eGR: “The conditions in the French market are very tough, and a large marketing spend will make it almost impossible to achieve positive EBITDA. We are going to be cautious, as the current situation in the market forces us to be cautious.”
The agreement states following a transitional period that ends on January 1st, they lose the use of Eurosportbet and Eurosportpoker acquired from Solfive.
Intralot is bidding the French market adieu with ARJEL accepting their request to repeal a sports betting license with four years left to run. The Greek firm was awarded a five-year license with the option of an extension and it was a widely held thought they’d apply for further licenses. It comes after a disappointing set of Q3 figures that they blamed on having to raise payouts in order to attract punters.
Online sports betting purveyor France Pari is taking struggling horse wagering site BetNet.fr under its wing. Customers of the site, which was declared bankrupt, will transfer over to a new platform launching on Thursday. Patrick Barbe, president of BetNet.fr told Les Echos that “overwhelming competition” was to blame and the fact they’re not allowed to advertise at tracks hurt them a great deal.
