At the request of the French Competition Authority (FCA), state owned horse racing operator Paris Mutuel Urbain (PMU) will separate its wagering liquidity between its retail and digital operations.
PMU will move to split its wagering liquidity from 10 December, with the operator creating two separate pools for customer bets.
CEO Alain Bernard announced the changes undertaken by PMU wagering services to French business sources, stating that his firm would abide by with national directives regarding fair competition standards for the betting industry.
In Q1 2015, competitor Betclic Everest Group had lodged a formal complaint to the FCA against PMU stating that the operator had gained an unfair advantage in its horse racing market through its position as a monopoly by merging its retail betting liquidity with its online services.
The FCA upheld Betclic’s complaint stating that the market needed to be ‘rebalanced’ in order to create fair enterprise conditions.
The decision would force PMU to separate digital wagers placed through its website PMU.fr by the end of 2015.
