French online poker woes continue
Online poker GGR falls 17% year-on-year but sports records positive growth
The French online poker market continued to struggle in Q3 2013 with gross gambling revenue (GGR) falling 17% year-on-year while amounts staked suffered its biggest ever quarterly decline of 21%.
According to figures from regulatory body l’Autorité de regulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL), poker GGR dropped to 58m in the quarter, down from the 70m recorded over the same period last year. The total amount staked on online poker also fell sharply, down 21% year-on-year to 1.1bn, the largest decline recorded by the regulator since the market opened in 2010.
The 17% fall in GGR is a continuation of the market’s H1 figures, which saw a fall 12% over the six-month period. Jean-François Vilotte, president of regulatory body ARJEL, in January described the lack of demand for poker as a “matter of concern”.
However, former French monopoly Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) saw its poker revenues increase by 10.1% to 415m in Q3, maintaining its overall French poker market share at 7.8%.
Despite the overall decline of online poker, the French sports betting market performed well in the quarter after recording a 15% year-on-year increase in GGR which ARJEL attributed to a strong performance from basketball, football and tennis. Net proceeds from sportsbooks also increased 12% year-on-year but horseracing revenue fell slightly by 2%.
According to figures released by ARJEL the regulated French egaming market saw some operators begin to make a profit in 2012 despite overall operating income remaining negative.