French Online Sportsbook Taken Over By Unibet

Unibet announced the acquisition of renowned French gambling group Solfive over a month ago, but the deal was conditional upon approval from the country’s regulator ARJEL. Now, that such approval has been received, the purchase became official.

Solfive operates in full compliance with French gambling laws and was sold to Unibet for €5.6 million plus net cash adjustment of €1.5 million. Unibet also settled Solfive’s fixed debt of €2.4 million under the terms of agreement.

Unibet plans to re-enter the French gambling market with this acquisition and offer gamblers online poker and online sportsbooks in France taking over the existing player base of the purchased gambling group.

ARJEL’s approval came on December 8, allowing Unibet to move forward with the acquisition and return to the French market, considered complicated and overly taxed by many industry players.

According to France gambling news Unibet left the French market earlier this year despite acquiring the new ARJEL license among the first foreign operators. Among the main reasons for Unibet exit were draconian tax regime imposed on gambling operators.

The re-entry means that Unibet must have come up with a new strategy on how to cope with exuberant taxes and still show profitability. Since little or nothing changed in France during Unibet’s absence, the gambling giant’s strategy has to be really good in order to fulfill management expectations.

Unibet plans to rebrand Solfive’s gambling platform and transfer existing player accounts to their own brand. Newly acquired ARJEL license will allow Unibet to offer regulated and taxed horserace betting, sports betting and online poker under French domain name.