PMU signs four-year Federation Francaise De Football tie

PARI MUTUEL URBAIN (PMU) has signed a four-year sponsorship deal with the French football federation as the French monopoly operator prepares for the liberalisation of the French market this year.

PMU is one of France’s two giant state-backed gaming and betting providers, together with Française des Jeux (FDJ). It has around 10,000 retail outlets in France and recorded a turnover of €9.3bn in 2009. PMU and FDJ both joined the Power 50 list of leading operators this year ahead of the opening of the French market to foreign competitors in early 2010.

The deal with the Federation Francaise De Football (FFF) sees the operator join sports brand Adidas, bank Credit Agricole and energy giant GDF Suez as a sponsor for both the men’s and women’s national teams and French amateur football.

It will take effect after the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa. Prior to that, PMU will also sponsor coverage of the World Cup on the Eurosport and TF1 television channels, despite Eurosport having launched its own sports betting site in May.

The FFF sponsorship is PMU’s second major deal since five-year tie up with Paddy Power’s new business-to-business arm, Airton Risk Management (ARM) announced in November, which will see ARM provide PMU with fixed-odds risk management and pricing tools..

PMU chief operating officer Xavier Hurstel told EGRmagazine.com that PMU was considering offering fixed odds sports bets in an exclusive story in May.

In other recent French news, France’s Mangas Gaming bought Everest Poker last month.

French monopoly operator Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) has signed a four-year sponsorship deal with the French football federation as it prepares for the liberalisation of the French market this year…