(AsiaGameHub) –   FDJ United has no plans to pull its Unibet brand out of the UK market—even amid persistent tax pressures and a drop in betting revenues during the first quarter—according to Pascal Chaffard, the company’s new head of gaming and betting.

In its Q1 earnings update released yesterday, FDJ stated that its Kindred UK gross gaming revenue (GGR) fell by 24.1%. Additional challenges loomed as the remote gaming duty was raised from 21% to 40% of GGR starting in April.

FDJ also faced continued difficulties in the Netherlands during Q1, driven by the nation’s recent tax increases.

Group-wide GGR for Q1 rose slightly by 1% to €2.175 billion, whereas revenue decreased by 3% to €895 million.

However, the online betting and gaming segment—comprising Kindred operations—recorded drops in both GGR (-1%) and revenue (-8%).

Excluding performance from the UK and Netherlands, online betting and gaming GGR increased by 6% in the quarter, while revenue saw a marginal 1% decline.

Chaffard, who recently transitioned from CFO to spearhead a strategic turnaround of FDJ’s online betting and gaming division, was queried during the earnings call about whether FDJ might consider exiting the UK market.

Yet he remains optimistic about the market, noting: “Our UK market share is in the low single-digit range. We are profitable in the UK.

“Therefore, we have no intention to leave the UK. That’s not the issue—instead, we have certain challenges to address.

“We need to figure out how to stay compliant while also being able to grow. [Frankly] some of our competitors have managed this, and we’re just as capable as they are.”

Collaboration to play critical role in FDJ’s UK turnaround

Offering more details on FDJ’s plan to reverse its UK performance, Chaffard explained that the company would rely on improved collaboration across its various departments. He told analysts that departments had been overly siloed in the past.

In its Q1 report, FDJ noted it had already started plans to launch “targeted task forces” in the UK and Netherlands to boost collaboration.

“We had marketing initiatives from the marketing team, product initiatives from the product team, responsible gaming (RG) requirements from the RG team, and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements from the AML team—all operating without really collaborating to find the most effective way to implement these measures and ensure overall efficiency,” Chaffard told analysts. “So this is about adjusting our work processes.

“It’s also about how we dive into the details using the necessary data to truly understand which decisions and actions are the right ones to take.

“What I’ve done is bring all the specialists together in one room. It’s clear that all these elements are fully interconnected.”

Chaffard also emphasized that FDJ doesn’t expect the UK turnaround to take a long time, adding: “The key is to do things correctly. We don’t believe it will take years to fix this, as it’s not a deeply structural issue.

“It’s more about our work approach and how we implement our various measures, as I mentioned. So there’s absolutely no consideration of exiting the UK. Our top priority is to resolve this issue, and it will likely take a few quarters—not just one, but several—rather than years, to achieve this, honestly.”