Record growth for French online sports betting in third quarter
News on 13 Nov 2018
News on 13 Nov 2018
Q3-2018 online gambling statistics released this week by French regulator ARJEL show that turnover in the online sports betting vertical reached an eight-year growth record, soaring 81 percent year-on-year to reach Euro 995 million in the three months ended September.
The major growth in turnover was attributed to the 2018 FIFA World Cup football championships mid-2018 which contributed about 16 percent of turnover and followed a Q2-2018 quarter in which turnover exceeded just over a billion Euro…again thanks to the impact of the World Cup.
The number of online punters in the third quarter rose 84 percent to 553,000 on an average weekly basis.
In revenue terms, the massive turnover translated to a 40 percent y-o-y rise to Euro 149 million
The Wimbledon tennis championships proved to be another online sports betting booster for French operators, with third quarter turnover doubling to Euro 258.4 million; with the exception of basketball, which declined 36 percent to Euro 15 million, other sports betting verticals also did well.
Online horse racing saw handle rise 4 percent in Q3-2018 to Euro 254 million, delivering revenue up 6 percent year-on-year at Euro 63 million, whilst betting on domestic and international football leagues all showed good improvement.
France’s player-sharing agreements with Spain and Portugal continued to benefit the domestic online poker vertical, with cash game wagers up 13 percent to Euro 1 billion in the quarter, whilst tournament fees rose 7 percent y-o-y to Euro 528 million; viewed overall, online poker revenues topped Euro 59 million for a 3 percent year-on-year improvement.
