At the Sustainable Gambling Conference 2025 in Brussels, FDJ UNITED brought together sector leaders, operators, and experts to explore the evolving landscape of regulated gambling, player protection, and the broader challenge of sustainability in an increasingly digital and competitive environment.
For Stéphane Pallez, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of FDJ UNITED, sustainable gambling isn’t a slogan – it’s central to how the industry must operate. In her interview, she talks about sustainability as an active commitment to player protection, regulatory engagement, and long-term trust, emphasising that a healthy ecosystem should protect playerswithout stifling innovation. Looking ahead five years, she paints a picture of an industry where licensed operators are not only compliant but competitive, trusted and integral to their communities. Her message to policymakers, investors, and players alike is clear: collaboration and clarity will shape the future of safer gaming.
Nils Andén, Chief Online Betting and Gaming Officer at FDJ UNITED, focuses on how the licensed market can attract and retain players – not by diminishing protections, but by ensuring that safer gambling is part of the experience, not an afterthought. He highlights how the event acts as a moment of shared purpose, and underscores the importance of embedding safer gambling into everyday business practices so that it becomes “business as usual” for operators of all sizes.
Vincent Perrotin, Chief Sustainability Officer at FDJ UNITED, underlines how sustainability guides FDJ UNITED’s broader business model. Across his interview, he reflects on the conference’s collective insights and talks about sustainability as both a personal commitment and a corporate imperative – shaping decisions, partnerships, and long-term planning.
Neil Banbury, Managing Director of Commercial & Marketing at FDJ UNITED, explores how operators can ensure that licensed experiences are seamless and appealing when compared with unregulated alternatives. His reflections extend to how safer gambling must be built into every customer journey, and how important ongoing regulatory evolution is to keeping regulated markets relevant and effective.
Voices from beyond FDJ UNITED underline the scale of the challenge and the opportunity for cooperative action:
Pedro Romero from BetBlocker stresses the importance of working together to address the unlicensed market – a theme echoed across the conference as regulators, operators and third-party partners seek unified approaches to player safety and market integrity.
Phil Ridgwell, CEO of Everett Sky, shares key takeaways from discussions around customer journeys, highlighting how understanding real user experiences can inform better protections and stronger engagement within the licensed space.
Craig Cornforth of EPIC Global Solutions reflects on panel discussions about lived experience, emphasising that firsthand perspectives of harm and recovery are essential to shaping meaningful safer gambling strategies.
Together, these interviews bring to life the ideas debated at SGC 2025 and reinforce a shared industry direction: regulated gambling can – and must – be both appealing and responsible. Through dialogue, data, and focused action, FDJ UNITED and its partners are contributing to a vision of sustainable gambling that puts players first, preserves trust, and strengthens the licensed market for years to come.
This piece is part of an ongoing series of articles exploring the Sustainable Gambling Conference, each focusing on a keynote or conference session and examining a specific issue shaping the future of safer gambling.
News
At the Sustainable Gambling Conference 2025 in Brussels, FDJ UNITED brought together sector leaders, operators, and experts to explore the evolving landscape of regulated gambling, player protection, and the broader challenge of sustainability in an increasingly digital and competitive environment.
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