PMU to separate online and offline horseracing liquidity
French operator will no longer pool land-based horseracing bets with those made online from 10 December
Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) will stop the pooling of horseracing liquidity between its retail and online activities from next week, the Paris-headquartered operator has announced.
The company said the divided pool pots will come into effect from next Thursday (10 December) and follows a requirement handed down by French Competition Authority (FCA) in February 2014.
Last year rival firm Betclic Everest Group lodged a formal complaint against PMU, arguing the operator held an unfair advantage by using its monopoly position of the land-based horseracing market to boost the liquidity of its online pools product.
The FCA sided with Betclic and, as a result, PMU.fr will ensure only bets placed via its website will be used to determine the size of online prizes, a move which will see the operator fall in line with the rest of the market.
In October the company reported a 2.2% year-on-year fall in revenue from horseracing in Q3 2015 and recently acquired stakes in a number of horseracing operators in Germany and Brazil.
Earlier this year PMU was one of the first operators to have its operating licences renewed until 2020 by French online gambling regulator l’Autorité de regulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL).