France Fines Pari-Mutuel Urbain €900,000

The French Competition Authority (FCA) recently fined betting company Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) €900,000 (US$984,275) for failing to separate liquidity in its online and retail betting operations.

According to the FCA, the company has been maintaining separate liquidity for retail and online channels since 2014, but only for domestic events. It failed to create separate pools for international events. The matter was brought to the attention of authorities by online betting firms Betclic and Zeturf after they discovered PMU’s shortcomings in compliance commitments.

PMU currently offers coverage for horse races in the US, France, Norway, Ireland, Sweden, and South Africa. The online betting firms noted that the retail and online better platforms offer the same odds and prize pools in the international races and fail to keep them segregated.

The authority stated that the retail and online betting pools are added together with the money that PMU takes from its overseas partners. These funds are then poured into a single large jackpot. This makes the overseas racing offerings as attractive as the online and retail outlets of the firm.

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