French Competition Authority Approves Banijay's Acquisition of JOA

The French Competition Authority has formally approved Banijay Gaming's acquisition of the JOA group. The authority stated that the parties' activities do not overlap and that Lov Group is not active in the French casino market. The transaction, which was notified last October, was examined by the authority under this heading for the first time because it creates a new operator active in France both on land and online. The authority unconditionally approved the transaction from the perspective of the casino operator.

JOA is a group that operates only in France and runs 33 casinos nationwide. The majority of its revenue comes from casino operations. The remainder comes from restaurants, bars and hotels within casino complexes operated under public service concession contracts.

Banijay Group, a subsidiary of Lov Group, operates in France through Banijay Gaming and the Betclic brand in online betting areas such as sports betting, casino games, poker and horse race betting. Online casinos remain prohibited in France. However, their legalization has been debated for years among industry stakeholders and members of parliament. The authority assessed that this possibility was not yet a sufficiently reasonable scenario at the time of the decision, so it did not examine the effects under this assumption.

The investigation found that the online poker market and the casino market are related, particularly with respect to table games and poker. The reason is the existence of a common player base both on land and online. The increasingly younger age profile of casino customers also contributes to the convergence between the two channels. The investigation consulted competitors and ANJ, and found that poker players tend to move between land-based casinos and online platforms. Considering that the new structure may pursue a multi-channel strategy and engage in commercial bundling across activities, the authority assessed the possible effects of this strategy. Taking into account market shares, the strong competitors in these markets, and the limited contribution of poker to the overall business of JOA casinos, it concluded that the transaction was unlikely to harm competition through conglomerate effects.