FDJ United Q1 revenue falls as rising taxes squeeze key markets
- FDJ United posted Q1 2026 revenue of €895m, a 3.2% year-on-year decline, after a €24m gaming tax impact in the quarter across four key markets.
- UK revenue fell 24.1% as the operator grapples with weak average revenue per user, with management flagging the market as its top remediation priority.
- The group has formed cross-functional task forces in the UK and Netherlands and shifted to an ROI-led marketing approach as it targets a return to GGR growth in H2 2026.
FDJ United has reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of €895m, down 3.2% year on year, as gaming tax increases across its key European markets weighed heavily on the operator’s online betting and gaming division.
The results were published yesterday on 21 April 2026 alongside the announcement of a new chief financial officer.
The group’s gross gaming revenue (GGR) edged up 1% to €2,175m, but that underlying growth was more than offset by a €24m combined impact from tax rate hikes in France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Romania.
FDJ United expects the total additional gaming tax burden for the full year 2026 to reach nearly €90m.
UK the sharpest pain
The most acute pressure came from the UK, where a new 40% remote gaming duty on online casino games took effect on 1 April 2026, with a separate rise in online sports betting duty from 15% to 25% scheduled for April 2027. UK net revenue declined 24.1% in the quarter.
Pascal Chaffard, chief online betting and gaming officer at FDJ United, told analysts the new rate had only been in force for three weeks at the time of reporting, making a full assessment premature.
His comments, however, left little doubt about the gravity of the situation.
“In the UK, to be clear, the situation remains difficult with revenue down more than 20%. Clearly, it’s not at the level expected so far. We will come back with action plans under way to turn the situation around as quickly as possible. This is our top priority.”
Chaffard identified declining average revenue per user (ARPU) as the central challenge, rather than a failure to attract customers.
“What is clear in the UK is that the main problem is not the number of actives. It’s clearly the drop in average revenue per user. That’s really our main problem. We have acquisition in the UK that is quite good. The question we have is that it doesn’t translate at the right level into an average revenue that is good.”
He also confirmed that a market exit was not under consideration.
“We don’t have any intention to withdraw from the UK. That’s not the point. The point is that we have some problems to solve. We have to find a way to be compliant and in a capacity to grow. We have seen that some of our competitors are able to do that. We are not less smart than them. It’s a question of doing things right. We don’t think it will take years because it’s not a very deep structural problem.”
The Netherlands was also a drag, with revenue there down 19.9% following a second successive tax increase to 37.8% of GGR from January 2026. Romania and France both saw rate hikes in 2025, adding to the overall burden.
Task forces and marketing reset
To arrest the decline, management has assembled dedicated cross-functional teams for both the UK and Dutch operations, bringing together specialists from marketing, responsible gaming (RG), anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance departments.
Chaffard continued:
“We had some marketing initiatives, product initiatives, RG requirements and AML requirements not really working around the same table to find the best way to implement everything to be globally efficient. What I’ve done is take all the specialists and lock them in the same room to talk to each other because all these elements are totally linked.”
He also flagged a shift in how the company approaches marketing spend, moving towards a return-on-investment discipline.
“We’re shifting to an ROI-led marketing and generosity. We are not ROI-led to date, so we have to spend better in marketing and generosity.”
The growth of unlicensed operators across Europe drew concern from management.
Chaffard stated that FDJ United had been in active dialogue with both the Gambling Commission and the UK government, warning that tighter regulation and higher taxes without a commensurate crackdown on illegal operators risked undermining the licensed market.
France provides relief
Excluding the UK and Netherlands, GGR from the online betting and gaming division rose 6.3%. France performed ahead of expectations following the successful consolidation of the ParionsSport en Ligne and Unibet brands into a single Unibet offering, completed on schedule in Q1.
Chaffard noted that sports betting, horseracing and poker all performed above the operator’s internal expectations following the migration.
Looking ahead, he acknowledged the imminent entry of bet365 into the French market as a meaningful competitive threat, describing the operator as “a little more dangerous than the previous ones who have tried and failed.”
Separately, FDJ United confirmed the appointment of Dan Lévy, formerly chief financial officer at Ipsos, as the group’s new CFO effective 18 May 2026. Lévy succeeds Chaffard, who stepped into the online betting and gaming leadership role as part of the same reshuffle.
For the full year, FDJ United now expects a slight increase in GGR and a slight revenue decline, with a recurring EBITDA margin of between 23% and 24%.
The group’s guidance points to a gradual improvement in its online betting and gaming division through the year, with a return to GGR growth in H2, driven by the implementation of its ongoing action plans.
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