Unibet opens doors to French customers

Unibet’s dot.fr site has opened to French customers for the first time since the Swedish operator completed the acquisition of EurosportBet owner Solfive in November.

Players attempting to access the EurosportBet.fr site will now be redirected to Unibet.fr following the completion of the transition period agreed upon at the time of the takeover.

Unibet handed in its existing French licences in November, opting instead to operate from those licences already held by the Solfive-owned SPS Betting, and in December the company was given clearance by regulatory authority ARJEL to use the Unibet.fr domain under these licences.

As part of the acquisition agreement last year, Unibet had been required to return the Eurosport brand name to its owner by mid-February. However the redirection of players from EurosportBet.fr to Unibet.fr will continue until the end of 2012.

French players who held dot.com accounts with Unibet before the regulation of the French market will be required to set up new accounts for the dot.fr room, although those with existing EurosportBet.fr accounts will be automatically transferred to the new site.

Unibet initially secured its licences for the regulated French market in 2010, but CEO Henrik Tjärnström was forced to defend zero revenues from the jurisdiction as a consequence of “restrictive” market conditions.