Banijay Gaming Leadership: Who Runs Betclic and Tipico

Summary: who leads Banijay Gaming

Banijay Gaming is the sports betting and gaming division of Banijay Group, formed when Banijay combined its Betclic business with Tipico. Per Banijay’s April 23, 2026 announcement that the acquisition had completed, Nicolas Béraud, the former Betclic CEO, is Chairman of the Board, Lov Group Invest remains President and Joachim Baca, formerly Tipico’s CEO, is Vice-Chairman. Julien Brun leads Betclic as CEO and Mate Bacic leads Tipico as CEO.

The line-up is mostly continuity. Three of the five roles went to people already running the businesses: Béraud founded Betclic, Brun came from inside Betclic and Bacic came from inside Tipico. The one change from the October 2025 plan is at Tipico, where the company had said Axel Hefer would stay as CEO but later announced that he would step down once the deal closed.

This article sets out who holds each role, what the role involves in general terms, how the plan changed between the two announcements and what the announcements do not say. All facts come from Banijay’s and Tipico’s own releases and are accurate as of April 2026. It covers professional roles only and is not investment advice.

Background: how the leadership was set up

Banijay Group announced on October 28, 2025 that it had signed a binding agreement to acquire a majority stake in Tipico Group and combine it with Betclic. The announcement described the leadership of the future division before the deal closed. The governance was designed at signing, not after completion, which is common when two management teams are combining and the founders keep a stake in the new company.

Banijay Group itself is led by François Riahi as CEO, per the company’s releases. Stéphane Courbit, the founder of Banijay Group, is President of Lov Group Invest, the investment company that Banijay named as President of Banijay Gaming. The group and the division have separate leadership layers: Banijay Group is the listed parent, while Banijay Gaming has its own board and its operating businesses have their own chief executives.

Banijay also said that the founders of Tipico rolled over their shares into the new entity and that Béraud increased his stake through an evolution of his long-term incentive plan. A long-term incentive plan is a pay arrangement that rewards executives with shares or share-linked awards over several years. These details help explain why founders and former chief executives appear in governance roles rather than leaving after the sale, although the releases do not state that as a reason.

The people and their roles

Banijay Gaming leadership as announced. Sources: Banijay Group press releases of October 28, 2025 and April 23, 2026; Tipico Group press release of April 23, 2026. Status as of April 2026.

A chairman leads the board, the body that oversees strategy and management; a chief executive runs the day-to-day business. A vice-chairman supports the chairman and may stand in for the role. These are general descriptions of the titles, because the releases do not set out each person’s specific responsibilities.

Bacic’s earlier titles are described slightly differently by the two companies. Tipico’s release says he has nearly a decade at Tipico Group, was Managing Director of Tipico Retail Services GmbH and most recently was CEO of the Atlas Group, which led the integration of ADMIRAL Austria, and that he spent more than ten years in senior roles at Telefónica in Germany before joining. Banijay’s release gives a compatible but differently worded history, citing his earlier roles as CEO of Tipico Austria and Admiral Austria and before that chief operating officer of Tipico.

What the appointments signal

The announcements point to a plan built around continuity of the existing management. Betclic’s founder moved up to chair the board and its chief operating officer took over as CEO, so the team that ran Betclic before the deal still shapes it afterwards. At Tipico, the successor is an executive with a long record inside the group, rather than an outside hire.

This is analysis, not a company statement. Banijay said in October 2025 that Betclic and Tipico would keep their own brands, governance and proprietary platforms. Separate chief executives for each business are consistent with that structure, because each operating company keeps its own management line while the division board sits above both.

Tipico frames Hefer’s tenure as a mandate. It says he joined with the task of preparing the group for a sale through international growth, and that under him the US business was divested, ADMIRAL Group was acquired and the Banijay merger was completed. Hefer said in the release: “I joined the Tipico Group nearly three years ago with a clear objective: to set the course for future international growth.” The release presents the departure as the end of a mandate, following completion of the sale, and the company said he decided to step down.

Comparison: the 2025 plan and the 2026 outcome

Comparing the October 2025 announcement with the April 2026 completion statements shows what stayed the same and what changed. Four of the five roles were unchanged between the two announcements, and only the Tipico chief executive role moved.

Banijay Gaming roles: October 28, 2025 announcement compared with April 23, 2026 statements. Sources: Banijay Group and Tipico Group press releases.

The table shows that the board-level structure was set early and held. Only the Tipico chief executive changed, and the change followed closing rather than preceding it. Neither release gives a reason beyond Tipico’s statement that Hefer decided to step down after the successful completion of the acquisition, so this article does not offer one.

Limits and what the announcements do not say

The releases describe titles, not authority. They do not say how decisions are divided between the chairman, the president and the chief executives, what the vice-chairman’s duties are, or how the division board relates to the group’s management. Any reading of who holds decision power would go beyond the sources.

The information is also dated. Leadership roles change, and this article reflects the announcements of October 2025 and April 2026. Later appointments or departures would need new official statements, and readers should check the companies’ current announcements before relying on a title. The descriptions of Bacic’s past roles come from two companies’ releases and are reported as each describes them.

Finally, this is a description of professional roles only. It does not assess any individual’s performance, and the announcements do not report compensation, shareholdings beyond the points mentioned or reporting lines. Nothing here should be read as a judgment on the leaders or on the businesses they run.

Key facts and definitions

Key dates and facts. Sources: Banijay Group and Tipico Group press releases.

Chairman, president and vice-chairman are board-level titles, while chief executive is an operating title. A founder is the person who started the company, and Banijay Gaming is the combined sports betting and gaming division of Banijay Group. Every title in this article is the one used in the companies’ releases, and the dates are those the companies gave. Banijay Gaming’s own operating businesses, Betclic and Tipico, keep separate chief executives.

Related analysis and next steps

For the financial structure behind these appointments, including enterprise values and financing, read why Banijay bought Tipico. To see how another large operator presents its management and model, see Flutter Entertainment’s business model, and for how a listed gaming company reports its results, read DraftKings’ second-quarter 2026 results. The next logical read is Banijay’s next results, which will show how the combined business performs under the new leadership. The primary announcements for every fact are listed below. Readers following the industry’s executive changes can also revisit the company releases for any later update, since titles and dates can change after publication.

Sources & References

• Banijay Group N.V. — Banijay Group acquires majority stake in Tipico Group, press release (Euronext, October 28, 2025)
• Banijay Group N.V. — Banijay Group completes the acquisition of Tipico Group, press release (Euronext, April 23, 2026)
• Tipico Group — Tipico Appoints Mate Bacic as CEO, press release (April 23, 2026)