The French wagering enterprise FDJ has acquired Sporting Solutions. This acquisition will aid FDJ in leveraging Solutions’ trading expertise to expand its operations within France and its lottery ventures globally. However, it’s crucial to understand how the British firm will integrate into FDJ’s extensive framework for the deal to be successful.
Most media outlets reported this development last week, but it didn’t garner widespread attention. Few individuals posed inquiries regarding the matter.
This acquisition is advantageous for FDJ and, to a certain extent, Sporting Group. The French national lottery only releases information when it desires to do so, which is infrequent. They have maintained this practice even after acquiring other businesses.
When iGamingBusiness…
Com sent an electronic message to the organization, attempting to obtain additional details regarding the agreement, encompassing the strategy and rationale underpinning it, and the perspective from the FDJ product side. The organization responded: “We appreciate your inquiry. FDJ Group will not be providing any further statements on the Sporting Solutions acquisition press release disseminated yesterday. We anticipate sharing new developments with you shortly.”
Discuss a media silence. A significant gambling entity like FDJ, the second largest lottery operator on the continent, entering the B2B sports wagering domain, is notable, and media attention is understandable.
**The Robust Identity of Solutions**
Is FDJ’s reluctance to engage with industry reporters significant? Not truly, but the practice does not portray the group favorably, particularly given its previous foray into the B2B space, the acquisition of LVS, which concluded with a muted response.
An industry expert who has collaborated with both entities, speaking on the condition of anonymity, stated that the Sporting Solutions acquisition signifies that FDJ “has procured a talented team, a skilled B2B specialist, and they will leverage this team to secure agreements with other lottery organizations globally.”
In his assessment, Sporting Solutions is unlikely to emulate the trajectory of LVS, which “was a diminutive, fledgling company when it was acquired, whereas Solutions possesses a robust corporate identity and business culture, and is unlikely to fade within the FDJ giant.”
The new system exhibits enhanced resilience, even though the merging process might not be straightforward.
Although FDJ’s business plan appears well-defined, aiming to ultimately set prices and trade its own wagering offerings within its home market and cultivate a global B2B clientele focused on (primarily) national lotteries, the source noted that the two entities possess vastly different organizational cultures. “One is a highly commercialized British betting specialist, the other is a substantial state-owned operator, with significantly different approaches to thinking and working.”
Regarding potential benefits for FDJ, a former Solutions worker informed iGaming Business: “FDJ will acquire robust trading and technical proficiency, integration with numerous platforms and collaborators, algorithms for nearly all major and minor athletic events, and the capacity to furnish trading models enabling operators to self-manage their trading.”
Conversely, “the spread betting business is deeply embedded throughout the organization, it’s difficult to detach from (fixed odds sports), it will be intriguing to observe how they manage this.
“Solutions utilizes a fixed odds platform acquired from Grand Parade, but it’s incompatible with FDJ’s LVS legacy platform,” the former employee added.
Moreover, the possible market size for Solutions goods and services is presently not substantial, and “major players are bringing significant sporting events internally, so Solutions is only getting the remaining segment, and numerous smaller operators have already switched to providers like SBTech or Kambi.”
Nevertheless, in reality, the public relations event mentioned at the start of this piece only reflects how FDJ operates;
The latter point is accurate, while FDJ will aim for global lottery operators and bring Solutions to new areas, SG Digital/OpenBet is already doing the same thing and has progressed further down this path; both in terms of business and product integration.
Furthermore, Sporting Solutions serves many companies that will now compete directly with it for significant contracts, even if this is considered part of the iGaming supply chain.
This does not mean the project will not be successful, but it will not be simple, and from a cultural standpoint, it’s as challenging as a purely technical or commercial endeavor.
To demonstrate this point, a contact who has worked with both teams said he’s been aware of the deal for some time. But even Sporting Solutions executives he regularly contacts were unaware of when it would be announced, and there haven’t been any in-person meetings with FDJ senior staff to address the matter.
Communication breakdown?
Its highly probable that comparable events will transpire once more, and the team’s deficient communication will become the subject of office chatter. The true inquiry is whether this will negatively impact Solutions in the long term. As the adage goes, communication is paramount.
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