BetNet in advanced talks with France-Pari?

French online horserace betting company BetNet.fr is in advanced talks with French operator France-Pari according to French news source Les Echos.

Established in 2010, after only one year of operation, BetNet.fr was declared bankrupt and put under receivership by the Tribunal de Commerce de Compiègne late November who has called for potential buyers to submit acquisition bids.

Patrick Barbe, president of BetNet.fr provided the following insight into the problems the company encountered saying: “We face overwhelming competition of the racecourse. We are not allowed to advertise on racetracks, however, the PMU is everywhere. We are overwhelmed by the PMU. The law has guaranteed its monopoly. To compete would require too large marketing budgets for small companies like ours.” He also pointed at the fact that taxation of online gambling had not evolved since the opening of the market.

BetNet’s market share objective on entering the market a year ago was 5 to 8 percent after 6 months of operation, however, it reportedly only holds around 1.5 percent at present.

The Tribunal de Commerce de Compiègne will reconvene today (Wednesday) to assess takeover bids for the struggling firm.