Pari Mutuel Urbain separation of online and land gambling activity latest

The window for rival operators to submit their views on the proposed division of the land and internet gambling businesses of the French gambling giant Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) ended this week, and the ball is now back in the French Competition Authority’s court as the process trundles forward.

Once it has digested the perspectives and suggestions of contributors, the Authority will frame guidelines for the PMU to split its businesses, which currently command a reportedly 86.4 percent market share, over the next two years.

Earlier this year the PMU agreed with proposals from the Authority that the market in France could be made more competitive if it agreed to separate its considerable land and online businesses.

The issue was initially raised last year with the Authority by online gambling group Betclic-Everest.

Betclic and other rivals contend that the PMU practice of pooling wagers from its widespread network of retail betting facilities with those flowing from its substantial online gambling operations, gives it an unfair advantage in the marketplace in terms of the prize pools it can use to entice players.

Latest annualised numbers to hand show that PMU achieved land revenues of Euro 8.4 billion, and online revenues of Euro 972 million, in 2012.