France’s Competition Authority Greenlights FDJ’s Acquisition of Kindred Group

France’s competition authority, l’Autorité de la Concurrence, has granted approval for the lottery monopoly FDJ to acquire the Kindred Group, but not without caution. According to iGB, the authority has expressed significant concerns regarding FDJ’s potential promotion of Kindred’s commercial products to its existing lottery customers, warning that this could heighten risks for players.

In its review of the acquisition, the competition authority emphasized the importance of maintaining a clear distinction between FDJ’s monopoly operations and Kindred’s commercial offerings. The report highlighted that cross-selling Kindred’s products to FDJ’s lottery clientele could lead to increased player vulnerabilities, an issue that FDJ has previously encountered during its acquisition attempts of ZEturf’s French operations, which include the ZEBet brand.

To address these concerns, FDJ has committed to keeping its commercial and monopoly activities entirely separate. This entails creating distinct websites for each of its brands and maintaining separate player databases, meaning that customers will need to register separately for accounts with both FDJ and Kindred brands, such as Unibet.

Reiterating its commitment to this separation, FDJ has assured regulators that it will refrain from displaying its recognizable logo or branding on any of Kindred’s commercial products following the acquisition. The lottery operator noted that most of Kindred’s players in France are unlikely to recognize the change in ownership.

The issue of maintaining distinct boundaries between monopoly activities and commercial gaming has been a persistent challenge in France. As noted by iGB, both FDJ and the retail horse racing monopoly Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) have faced scrutiny for potentially misusing their dominant positions to undermine private operators.

Source: iGB