PartyGaming, French TV giant AB Groupe sign poker deal
PartyGaming has signed its second business-to-business deal in France, with an exclusive agreement to provide a white label online poker service for French TV broadcast giant AB Groupe ahead of the introduction of France's new egaming licence system.
PARTYGAMING has signed its second business-to-business (B2B) deal in France, with an exclusive agreement to provide a white label online poker service for French TV broadcast giant AB Groupe.
AB Groupe has approximately 52 million paid subscribers and offers 15 subscription channels including RTL9, AB1 and AB Moteurs in France and other French-speaking countries.
The brand’s new poker service, branded LuckyJeux, will be promoted across the AB Groupe network on air and online, and will join PartyGaming’s French poker network, which is also due to include Party’s own France-facing site, PartyPoker.fr and French horse racing monopoly Pari-Mutuel Urbain following PartyGaming’s supply contract late last month.
PartyGaming chief executive Jim Ryan said: “AB Groupe is a first rate addition to our French poker network and is consistent with our stated strategy of combining B2C and B2B offerings in newly regulated markets.
“Together with our recently announced alliance with PMU, we are in great shape ahead of the market opening and are excited about our prospects.”
As reported on EGRmagazine.com, France voted in favour of a bill to legalise online gambling this month, which all but officially opens up the French egaming market to international operators.
The PartyGaming-AB deal is the latest in a string of recent egaming-media deals in France. This month alone agreements include Mangas Gaming’s partnership with French multimedia conglomerate M6 Group, the second most-watched private television service in France, and Ladbrokes’ announcement of a joint venture with French premium TV giant Canal+.
Other media companies to enter the French egaming space include TF1, which signed an online gaming and sponsorship deal with France’s lottery monopoly, Francaise des Jeux in February, and the Eurosport TV channel, which announced plans to launch betting company SPS Betting with investment fund Serendipity in May 2009.
A discount of 10% on tables and tickets to the eGaming Review B2B Awards, which take place on the first night of EGR Live, is available until 7 May: click here for details. The deadline for B2B Awards entries is this Friday, 23 April.