French online gambling market posts all-time revenue record in Q2 2021
Sports betting bolsters market with €420m in revenue as ANJ reminds licensees of their social responsibilities
The French online gambling market posted all-time high quarterly revenue of €617m in Q2 2021 driven by the sports betting vertical.
Operators in the country recorded a collective €617m in revenue, representing a 91% year-on-year (YoY) increase from the €323m posted in Q2 2020.
The €617m total is the highest level since the opening of the country’s online market in 2010.
Of the €617m total revenue, sports betting accounted for €420m thanks to the popularity of Euro 2020.
Sports betting revenue skyrocketed 347% YoY for Q2 2021 having only amounted to €94m in Q2 2020.
Elsewhere, horseracing betting also increased slightly YoY by 8% to reach €95m up from the €88m posted in Q2 2020.
Conversely, poker was the only vertical to suffer from a revenue downturn YoY, falling 27% from €142m in Q2 2020 to €103m in Q2 2021.
The record quarter was supported by a 65% uptick in the number of active players in the country.
There were 3,337,000 active players in Q2 2021 compared to the 2,019,000 active consumers in Q2 2020.
Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, ANJ president, said that despite the impressive growth, the industry must remain vigilant to potential gambling-related harm.
She said: “The French are always more numerous to bet online and, quite logically, the Euro[s] boosted the segment of sports betting whose turnover reached another record this quarter.
“However, it asks us about the societal issues that these new uses come to question. This is particularly the case with advertising, a subject on which the ANJ is currently consulting all stakeholders to promote a rebalancing of operator practices,” she added.