Online horse-racing betting
Taking over an existing app and getting it back on track
Takeover and consolidation of a React Native betting app already in production, combining technical leadership, architecture decisions and building the development team.
- Client
- Zeturf
- Sector
- Online horse-racing betting
- Role
- Mobile & web developer, Lead
- Period
- March 2020 - January 2023
The scale of the playing field
These public figures describe the platform the engagement took place on, not a result I claim on my own. They show the level of demand of the environment.
€175M
acquisition price paid by Française des Jeux for Zeturf in September 2023
2nd
largest French horse-racing betting operator, behind PMU
3 years
of technical continuity on the app, from 2020 to 2023
Zeturf was acquired by FDJ for €175 million in September 2023, eight months after my engagement ended. I obviously do not claim credit for that valuation: it sets the level of product maturity expected during the three years I owned the mobile side.
Sources: Zeturf, rachat par la FDJ en septembre 2023 (Wikipédia) · ANJ, bilan du marché des jeux d'argent 2025
The context
A betting app already live, with real users and financial transactions, but a codebase and an organization in need of consolidation. The kind of engagement where you inherit someone else's code and have to ship value while repairing the foundations.
The challenge
Taking over an existing product without rewriting everything: improving the payment flow, which is the critical moment of a betting app, making releases reliable, and growing a team able to sustain the product over time.
What I did
- Payment flow optimization and user experience improvements
- Automated deployment: tests, staging environment and production
- Structural architecture decisions on how the code is organized
- Hiring developers and consolidating the team
- Three years of technical continuity on a live product
Technical stack
The outcome
A betting app consolidated over three years, with a reworked payment flow, an automated deployment pipeline and a development team assembled to take over.
What this means for you
Taking over an existing product calls for a different approach than greenfield development: audit first, quick wins next, rewrite only where justified. If you have a production app you have lost control of, this is the starting point.
First Mobile EngineerA similar need?
30 minutes to look at your situation and tell you honestly how I would approach it, whether you work with me or not.