French gambling market generates GGR of €10.7bn in 2021

The French gambling market saw overall annual growth of 7% in gross gambling revenue (GGR) from €10bn (£8.4bn) in 2020 to €10.7bn in 2021, mainly driven by the increased activity in sports betting and lottery, yet it was down on the €11.1bn achieved in 20219.

According to the regulator, ANJ, the online segment’s growth continued as GGR came in at €2.2bn, up from €1.7bn in 2020 and €1.4bn in 2019.

Sports betting was the standout performer, with GGR rocketing 44% from €940m in 2020 to €1.36bn last year.

Meanwhile, total stakes reached a record high of €7.9bn, which can partially be attributed to Euro 2020 as the tournament generated €445m in stakes alone, even though France were dumped out of the pan-European football competition in the second round.

ANJ said in 2021 sports betting represented 82% of active player accounts in the online gaming sector. The turnover per active player also grew by around 25% to reach €303 in 2021.

Online games in general also saw significant growth in GGR of 24% and crossed the €2bn threshold, reaching €2.159bn.

This growth saw online games take up more of the sector’s overall turnover going from 17% to 20%. The number of active player accounts as well has grown to more than 5.4 million on various sites, up 11% on 2020.

The only real negative in a sea of positives was that online poker saw a GGR drop of 4% to €429m, but this is still 58% higher than in 2019, although the number of poker players was down 10% compared with 2020.

The report also looked at the two monopolies in France, Française des Jeux (FDJ) and Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU).

These two operators accounted for 70% of the market’s GGR in 2021, which was 12% up from 2020 and has been attributed to the reopening of almost all point- of-sale establishments in June and a packed sporting calendar.

The growth has been mainly attributed to the lottery offering, which saw GGR surpass €5bn in 2021, which was up 16%. The horseracing segment’s GGR rose 14% to €1.5bn.