Banijay Gaming has installed Antoine Jouteau – formerly boss of French classified ads website Leboncoin – as its new CEO, parent Banijay Group announced while releasing its financial performance for H1 2026.
Jouteau, who will take on the role on 1 September, spent close to 15 years across two spells with Leboncoin and will lead a group consisting of Betclic and the recently acquired Tipico and Admiral brands.
Nicolas Beraud, who has been overseeing the gaming division as chairman, will stay as non-executive chair.
He said the new CEO’s mission will be to “unlock the full potential of our platform: accelerating growth across our regulated markets, strengthening collaboration across Betclic, Tipico and Admiral, and continuing to raise the bar for our customers”.
Jouteau added: “Banijay Gaming has reached a pivotal moment in its journey. Bringing together Betclic, Tipico and Admiral creates a unique platform: leading brands, exceptional talent and a strong footprint across Europe’s regulated gaming markets.
“What convinced me to join this adventure is the opportunity to build on these strong foundations and help shape the next stage of growth.
“Growth through execution. Growth through innovation. And growth by continuously raising the bar for the experience we deliver to our players.”
On the financial side, which includes the Tipico integration from 23 April, sports betting and gaming revenue in the first half of 2026 grew 10.5% year on year (YoY) to €1.2bn (GBP) on a pro forma basis.
This was on the back of a 22% YoY increase in unique active players (UAPs) thanks to the conclusion of the Champions League and “record activity” around the World Cup.
Banijay Gaming highlighted that its H1 2026 results “included only a partial contribution from FIFA World Cup” due to it taking place across Q2 and Q3.
However, it still saw record engagement and betting activity throughout the tournament, with UAPs surged 75% when compared to the 2022 World Cup, while turnover doubled and gross gaming revenue (GGR) jumped 88%.
Pro forma sportsbook revenue climbed 8.6% YoY, while igaming revenue jumped 18.3%.
On a non pro forma basis, adjusted EBITDA rose 294% YoY €293.9m, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 24.3%.
The Betclic sportsbook is available in France, Ivory Coast, Poland and Portugal, while casino is offered in Ivory Coast and Portugal. Its proprietary poker product is only in France through Betclic.
Meanwhile, Tipico, which Banijay Gaming acquired a majority stake in last October in a deal worth approximately €3bn, operates in Germany and Austria and has over 1,250 betting shops across the two countries.
The Admiral brand acquired as part of the deal boasts a network of around 200 betting shops and gaming premises in Austria.
The group is aiming to achieve €100m in cost synergies and €70m in capex savings from the acquisition of Tipico and Admiral.
Banijay Group owns 65% of Banijay Gaming, alongside Tipico and Betclic founders and private equity giant CVC, though the aim is to increase the stake to above 72% in the next few years through call options.
Commenting on the H1 2026 performance, Banijay Group CEO François Riahi described 2026 as “a transformational year for Banijay Group”.
“The successful acquisition of Tipico, the completion of the combination of Banijay Entertainment and All3Media and the proposed acquisition of JOA in France grant to the group more scale, more diversity in terms of geography, channels of distribution, and a better strategic positioning to achieve all its strategic goals, creating new opportunities for both growth and value creation,” he said.
“In H2, we will enhance the integration processes in our two business units and will start delivering synergies.
“The addition of Antoine Jouteau to our setup, who will join the group as CEO of Sports betting and Gaming activities, will be key in this context.”
In July, Banijay Gaming acquired French land-based casino operator JOA for an undisclosed fee.
Image credit: Laurencre Revol/Wikimedia
The post Banijay Gaming appoints new CEO as pro forma revenue sees double-digit jump first appeared on EGR Intel.
Antoine Jouteau joins Betclic and Tipico parent after igaming revenue surges by almost a fifth in the first six months of the year
The post Banijay Gaming appoints new CEO as pro forma revenue sees double-digit jump first appeared on EGR Intel.