France Market Rebounds in Q3; Looks to Adapt Again

Q3 returns indicate that the France market appears to have rebounded from the initial Covid disruptions.

Revenue Boosts

Q3 revenue climbed 17.1% year-on-year with poker performing particularly well.

The totals for the three months to 30 September grew to €405m (£361.5m/$482.2m) for a 25.4% sequential improvement from Q2 covid quarter when national lockdowns shut down all sporting events.

ANJ Effusive

France gambling regulator L’Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ) described called the Q3 returns as a “spectacular recovery,” as supplemented by a robust 29.3% increase in active player accounts to 2.7m.

Sports Betting Vertical

Sports betting remained easy leader in stakes and revenue. Wager totals rose 49.3% to €1.62bn, with football bringing in a majority €1.03bn of that take in the quarter where major sports leagues played out seasons delayed by Covid-19 suspensions.

Football Leads

The €31m wagered on the Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain represented the second largest among ever wagered on a single match, behind only the France-Croatia 2018 FIFA World Cup final.

Tennis, then Basketball

Tennis placed a distant second with €299m wagered, doubling third-place finisher basketball at €154m. Sports betting patronage in France rose substantively significantly, with the number of active accounts rising 36.8% to 2.2m; with sports betting gross gaming's revenue of €228m for Q3 representing a 6.5% year-on-year improvement.

Poker's Rise

Poker in France concluded its well-known historical struggles following strong first and second quarter showings which saw player numbers rise to 880,000, yielding revenue of €90m for a 36.4% year-on-year rise culled from €24m in cash games and €66m from tournaments—which even represented a 36.6% sequintial decline from Q2’s high of €142m.

More Sports in Q3

The addition of betting to the docket for Q3 would explain where the poker attention went once the sports leagues resumed play in May.

Horse racing

For Q3 horse racing also enjoyed a robust €363m stake during the quarter, for revenue of €87m and a 31.8% year-on-year improvement.

Full Year Totals Improve

After three quarters, the yearly totals for French iGaming GGR actually up 11.3% to €1.16bn.

Outlook

With France back in lockdown for the month and driving players back to iGaming platforms to fill the time, ANJ president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin looks to increase operator accountability to protect players.