FDJ United chairwoman and CEO Stephane Pallez details the tech overhaul its Kindred business continues to operate through, amid tough tax and regulatory conditions in Europe.
Speaking during FDJ United’s FY25 earnings call on 19 February CEO Stéphane Pallez said the operator’s online betting and gaming business had switched its strategy from M&A to technology transformation, with plans to prioritise internal platform migration and stack consolidation.
Pallez made the comments after the company published its full-year results for 2025, reporting year-on-year revenue losses across a number of segments, including online betting and gaming. She set out how the business unit, formerly operated by Kindred, is undergoing a “strong transformation”. FDJ finalised its €2.45 billion acquisition of Kindred in October 2024, with integration into its business now complete.
According to Pallez, work to capitalise on Kindred’s operations across the wider FDJ business will continue over the coming years. She added this would be driven primarily by technology migration and structural separation commitments made to antitrust authorities.
To date, the group has completed the separation of its exclusive rights lottery operations from competitive online betting activities in France. This included splitting player accounts and merging Parions Sport en Ligne and ZEturf. The remaining major step will see the French business eventually migrated onto the Kindred player account management (PAM) platform used across other jurisdictions.
Beyond France, FDJ has continued rolling out its internal sportsbook platform in markets including the UK, Romania and Estonia, while poker and casino operations are increasingly supported by proprietary technology.
Casino, which accounted for more than half of online betting and gaming revenue in 2025, has already been fully internalised from a tech stack perspective.
Technology migration ‘not urgent’ but central
While Kindred’s integration is complete, Pallez said the most technically complex step will be migrating France onto Kindred’s player account management system to align it with the group’s wider competitive footprint.
“The only element that remains to be done is to move France on the Kindred PAM,” she said. “It’s not urgent to do it. We will do it in the coming years. No problem.”
Elsewhere, internalisation is already largely complete across primary verticals. Casino is fully supported by proprietary technology, while poker will transition in France to Relax Gaming’s in-house stack as Unibet branding will be consolidated later in Q2.
As for sports betting, FDJ has internalised a significant share of activity. In France, sportsbook operations are fully supported by an in-house platform, while internationally, the group has deployed its proprietary KSP solution in Romania, the UK and Estonia.
According to Pallez, just under 60% of sportsbook revenue is fully internalised in France. Remaining jurisdictions yet to be migrated include Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and Australia, but Pallez described this activity as “very, very small”.
Regulatory pressure sharpens focus on platform control
Pallez also made reference to mounting tax and regulatory headwinds in core markets and the impact this has had on internalisation. She was particularly critical of recent Dutch reforms, describing regulatory decisions as “ill considered”.
“The market for operators in Netherlands has been shrinking by around 25%, at least in favour of offshore online betting and gaming operators, resulting in a loss of tax revenue for the country,” Pallez said.
In the UK, Pallez said upcoming tax changes are expected to impact online gaming from 2026, with further effects on sports betting from 2027. UK remote gaming duty will also rise from 21% to 40% from April 2026, and remote sports betting duty from 15% to 25% in 2027.
What about future M&A at FDJ?
Historically, FDJ has used acquisition to strengthen its competitive footprint, with Kindred part of that approach. But Pallez said further dealmaking was not the immediate focus for its online betting and gaming division. She added that any future M&A would need to align with the ongoing platform migration programme.
“It’s not our priority and it’s not a significant priority,” Pallez said. “We would prefer this year to continue to concentrate on the tech stack migration, even if it’s already well advanced.”
Pallez added the group would remain pragmatic about opportunities to support its medium-term scope, but ruled out any major activity around the upcoming football World Cup cycle. She hinted any further deals would likely focus on its lottery segment, particularly internationally.
“M&A or tenders or investment is more a question related to lottery, international lottery business,” Pallez said. “We are already active in looking at opportunities also in a realistic way.
“In the US, we believe we have opportunity to be present in the online lottery development, which is as we know, not as mature as the French or European market,” she hinted.
“We are already active in looking at opportunities also in a realistic way. And at this point, with small initiatives in terms of investment.”
