Leading French operator signs long-term renewal with tech trailblazer in natural-language processing

In less than five years Irish technology company Onionsack has become one of PMU’s most trusted technology partners; and this week they announce an extended three-year deal, worth around €150m in stakes annually to the French horse racing authority.

The only platform to understand and process bets written or spoken in a natural language, Onionsack provides a simple and high value opportunity for betting operators to engage with customers in the way people prefer to communicate in 2021. Onionsack lets a customer place a bet by sending a message using their preferred channel, such as Telegram, Viber or SMS. In 2016 Onionsack and PMU got together to launch PariSMS. It has been such a hit with punters that, on average PMU users place 160 bets each per month using Onionsack – a higher frequency than other channels. Close to 1.5m bets are placed through the platform each month.

Onionsack’s platform is fast becoming an essential tool for betting operators in today’s messaging-app centred world. Thanks to the expertise developed from the machine-learning of millions of bets per month, Onionsack understands what a customer wants to bet on via messages written or spoken and then places the bet on behalf of the customer.

Onionsack’s first customer was the UK Tote Group, but since then has been working with brands such as Paddy Power and William Hill, in territories from UK, France and Germany, to USA and South Africa. But it’s the technology partnership with the ever-innovative PMU, launching PariSMS together in 2016, that has really caught the eye. This link up has showcased the most successful and scalable business use-case to date.

Jonathan Power, CEO of Onionsack said: “The PMU are leaders in the field of customer-centric horse racing betting, and have embraced the technological advantages that the Onionsack platform can bring. Betting by natural language is getting bigger and bigger”.

Emmanuelle Malecaze Doublet, Chief Marketing, e-commerce and International officer of PMU said: “PMU is always looking to innovate and to improve the customer betting experience. We are focused on the digital transformation of our company and through this partnership with Onionsack the convenience we can offer to our customer is always being renewed. PMU and Onionsack have developed a partnership that is delivering to our customers a simple, easy way to place bets that fits in with today’s lifestyles”.