France online gambling market shows solid Q3 results

France regulated the online gambling industry back in 2010 and it is supervised by ARJEL the regulatory authority for online games.

The licensed online sports betting operators experienced a betting turnover of €448m in the three months ending September 30, that’s a 50% rise over the same period last year, online sports revenue was up 40% to €87m.

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Wagering was propped up by the Euro 2016 football tournament, generating a turnover of €39m, while the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil generated wagers amounting to €34m

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The two events accounted for 16% of ARJEL’s Q3’s overall betting stakes. The majority of betting took place on football which accounted for 58% of Q3 betting stakes, tennis claimed a 27% of the market. The amount representing basketball and rugby was only 3percent. Betting on sports increased by 45 percent and while women account for only 9% of French online sports punters, the number of new womwn opening betting accounts rose 85% in Q3, while new accounts arranged by men gained only 43%.

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On the negative side online poker revenue slipped 3% in the third quarter in France

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Online horserace wagering continued to decline with turnover falling 11% to €213m while horse racing revenue was down 10% to €54m. Active player accounts declined 8% despite bonus offers improving 9 percent to €6.3m. All of the signup gains came in July accredited to the Euro 2016 football tournament. In August however new signups fell 31 percent year-on-year.

The figures revealed the obvious trends in Europe with a decline in poker and a drop in the interest in online horse race betting. The writing is on the wall for certain betting options in France such as poker and horse racing.