Française Des Jeux, a state owned French betting firm, announced last week that it is entering into the field of esports events.
FDJ appears to be properly committing itself too with three different types of competition planned. This will include the FDJ Masters League, the most prestigious of the three with a €20,000 (£17,000) prize up for grabs, whilst the FDJ Open Series is targeting amateur players. There’ll also be an FDJ Gaming Tour which is more catered towards mobile games and casual events.
You can have a more substansial look at these on FDJ’s esports site. FDJ has partnered with Webedia, the company behind French teams PSG Esports and Millenium, and that is involved with Bang Bang Management, the e-Ligue 1 and ESWC.
Betting on esports in France remains illegal for the time being but this is expected to change in the near future. Sponsorships such as this, and Betclic’s arrangement with streaming firm Eclypsia suggests that these big bookmakers believe there is opportunity. Last year’s ‘Numeric Law’ gave esports a legal framework to work within and this bodes well for wider industries involved in the space.
Esports Insider says: The French scene is certainly an interesting one when it comes to esports and there’s ample opportunity. It’s Webedia which is leading the way and involved seemingly across the board, and new well backed tournaments and competitions such as these are great to see.