French online gaming revenue increased in Q3 2019

Online sports betting operators in France enjoyed significant quarterly revenue growth for Q3 2019 compared to the revenue generated during the same period last year. More specifically, according to the figures that were recently released by the French gambling regulator, ARJEL, the country’s licensed gambling operators have generated a combined revenue of €346m. A figure which is higher 27.7% over the same period last year and about €3m more than the one generated in Q2 2019.

As regards sports betting in particular, it constituted the main force of Q3’s overall growth, as the 13 licensed operators reported significant increase in revenue up to 44% YOY to €214m. This came despite the fact that the online betting wagers rose only 9% to €1.08b and the number of active bettors decreased by 1%.

The total return to bettors also decreased by 5.3 points YOY; basically due to the fact that on the same period last year, the Final of the FIFA World Cup between France and Croatia took place, and resulted in a €36.5m overall payout to French punters in Q3 2018. Furthermore, operators’ bonus offers to players dropped from €20m to €17m, as there wasn’t any similar sports event in place during Q3 2019.

As for race betting revenue, it rose 5% to €66m, partly due to bonus offers that dropped by more than ⅓. Nonetheless, active race bettors increased by 5% and stakes moved up 7%, so ARJEL projected that racing will have a 3rd straight year of annual revenue growth, as soon as 2019’s final numbers are released.

It is also worth mentioning that, although France’s licensees weren’t very generous with their bonus offers during Q3, their total marketing financial expenditure went up 13.2% to €43m. As a matter of fact, about ⅔ (62%) of this amount was spent on acquisition and retention attempts, with another 33% spent on local media promotions.