Paddy Power, the Irish bookmaker, demonstrated the scale of its international ambitions yesterday after signing a five-year sports betting deal with PMU, the French pari-mutuel horse-racing monopoly.

The company, which in May this year entered the Australian market by taking a 51 per cent stake in Sportsbet, the online bookie, is understood to have beaten 13 rivals to seal the PMU deal, including the British bookmakers William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral.

Patrick Kennedy, the Paddy Power chief executive, said he hoped that the deal with PMU, which comes after legislation to open up France’s online sports betting market, would be the first of many such partnerships as regulation was brought in “across Europe and further afield”.

“Financially we believe we’ll do well from this deal but strategically it has significant benefits,” he said. “If you are building an international business and marketing to media organisations, lotteries and gambling companies, being able to talk about the PMU deal is a fantastic calling card.”

PMU — otherwise known as Pari Mutuel Urbain — is Europe’s largest betting organisation with turnover last year of €9.3 billion (£8.4 billion), generated mainly by almost 10,000 retail outlets including cafés and bureaux de tabac with betting kiosks.

Under the terms of the deal, Paddy Power will provide PMU with fixed odds, risk management and event management services on a range of sports, although up to 80 per cent will be football-related. The technology for PMU’s move into online sports betting, tipped to happen in the first half of next year depending on when the new laws are passed, will be supplied by Orbis.

The agreement will result in the creation of 50 new jobs at its headquarters in Tallaght, Co Dublin, although it is planning a further 200 positions over the next three years to handle its international growth.

The news came as Paddy Power said it was confident of hitting full-year earnings forecasts after the return of more favourable sporting results in the fourth quarter, notably in football. After only four draws in the first 66 English Premiership fixtures, the next 51 games included 18 draws.

Separately, Gala Coral Group, the betting and gaming operator that is in refinancing talks with its lenders, reported a 7 per cent fall in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) to £336 million in the year to September, from turnover flat at £1.28 billion.

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