Facing the double blow of the UK remote gambling tax doubling to 40% and a plummet in first-quarter revenue, FDJ Group has given a clear answer: Unibet will not exit the UK. At the Q1 earnings call on April 24, 2026, Pascal Chaffard, who just transitioned from CFO to head of online gambling and betting operations, dispelled external speculations about FDJ possibly leaving the UK market with a straightforward statement. He openly admitted that Unibet's share in the UK is only in the low single digits, but the business is still profitable, and the company has no plans to exit. The real problem, as Chaffard sees it, is not the harsh market environment, but the need for FDJ to repair the previously fragmented internal collaboration. His original words were quite vivid—previously, the marketing team handled marketing, the product team handled products, the responsible gambling team only managed compliance, and the anti-money laundering team only focused on anti-money laundering, with groups never sitting at the same table to find the most efficient implementation path. Now, he has locked all relevant experts in the same room.
The collaboration experiment locked in the same room breaks down departmental silos
Chaffard's diagnosis was spot-on. The challenges faced by FDJ's UK operations are not deep structural crises but the long-term accumulated effect of departmental silos. The result of different functional lines operating independently is that marketing investments, product iterations, compliance obligations, and anti-money laundering requirements cannot be coordinated under the same framework, leading to significant internal friction and resource depletion. The Q1 financial report revealed that FDJ has initiated a special task force for the UK and Dutch markets, aimed at breaking down these fragmented functional barriers.
Chaffard further explained this loss-reversing logic during the call. He believes the key is not to introduce a single measure but to make the right combination of decisions based on data-driven detail analysis. When marketing plans, product features, responsible gambling tools, and anti-money laundering regulations are forcibly brought into the same room for synchronized planning, the inherent connections between them can be truly identified and utilized. Competitors have already demonstrated the possibility of growth within compliance frameworks, and FDJ believes it is no less intelligent than its competitors, only lacking a smarter internal collaboration mechanism.
Quarters, not years, the loss-reversing timeline sends a signal of efficiency
Regarding the loss-reversing cycle that the market is most concerned about, Chaffard made a quite decisive prediction—it will take a few quarters, not years. He emphasized that the core issue is the working method and the efficiency of implementation, not involving major structural adjustments. This judgment sends a clear signal: FDJ will not engage in a prolonged war of attrition in the UK market but aims to stop the bleeding and recover quickly through rapid internal process repairs.
PASA official website continues to track the strategic adjustments of European gambling operators under the high tax pressure in the UK and Netherlands. Noting that FDJ has ruled out the option of exiting the UK and loudly announced its loss-reversing plan, essentially endorsing the strategy behind the 2024 acquisition of Kindred (including the Unibet brand). While many operators have chosen to scale back their UK operations after the doubling of remote gambling tax, FDJ's stance to stay is both a protection of the upfront acquisition costs and a bet on the long-term value of the Unibet brand. Whether Chaffard's collaboration experiment can deliver a satisfactory report card within a few quarters will be a real test of this management methodology.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
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