Opinion: why recruitment for France is no safe bet
As regulatory dicussions progress and French market moves closer to regulation, the need for recruitment increases daily, says Pentasia's Matt Vines - but recruitment of what kind?
PENTASIA HAS been increasing its international business following the news that a number of countries were set to regulate online gaming. We took a keen interest in the ongoing regulatory discussions in France and as the market moves closer to regulation, the need for recruitment has increased.
It has become apparent over the last six months that recruitment procedures in France are somewhat different to that of the UK, so that coupled with the introduction of online gaming has proved to be a very tough task. Presuming gambling cultures in France are similar to that of Britain can lead to a number of communication problems, on the same token presuming recruitment processes are similar can also uncover problems.
Pentasia has recently been assisting Francaise Des Jeux (FDJ) with plans to launch more gambling products following the imminent opening of the betting market. It’s been interesting to experience how a company as successful as FDJ operates, and how it perceives the present online gaming industry. FDJ has a customer base of over 29.2 million French residents and more than 37,000 retail outlets.
The process when recruiting for private gaming companies and organisations run by the state such as FDJ are very different in many ways, any recruitment company would face a more extensive interrogation process by a state run organisation before being given the “vert” light.
As fixed odds sports betting is a relatively new concept in France, remote gaming companies who are hoping to target the region face an interesting test. Will the French gaming culture adapt to a new fixed odds format? Or will gaming companies need to adapt to the French betting culture? A simple localised betting product isn’t the answer.