La Française des Jeux (FDJ) has entered negotiations to acquire Zeturf Group.
FDJ says the acquisition is part of its strategy to bolster its presence in France, entering verticals where it does not yet operate such as horse-race betting and poker.
Zeturf operates in the online betting market for horseracing under the brand Zebet.
The sportsbook has around 100 employees and recorded €800m ($800.8m) in bets in 2021, including over €100m in B2B bets.
Online bets on horseracing accounted for 50% of all wagers in 2021 at Zebet, meaning the operator had a 20% market share in the online horserace betting sector.
As well as France, Zeturf also operates in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.
Earlier this year, FDJ signed a short-form video content deal with Sportradar. The supplier agreed to create automated match highlights for FDJ after the French operator wanted to deepen fan engagement for its sports betting brand.
FDJ leveraged Sportradar’s live channel promotion service through their agreement to provide ParionsSport customers with 30-second “near-live” video clips from various games.
Customers must subscribe to receive the short-form video content, which will be delivered directly to their mobile devices via push notifications.
The content is segmented according to customers’ betting preferences, said Sportradar, to create what it called “a highly personalised and immersive experience.”
Elsewhere, FDJ renewed its charitable foundation for a further five years in February.
The FDJ Corporate Foundation works to create equal opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds and will continue to do so through to 2028 — with an increased budget to boot.
