Online sports betting in France drops 26.5%
The amount bet online on sports in France has dropped by 26.5% quarter-on-quarter, according to reports in Le Figaro.
The amount of money bet online on sports in France dropped 26.5% quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter of 2011, according to French newspaper Le Figaro.
The publication cited the lack of a major sporting event as one of the contributing factors for the decline, while ARJEL president Jean-Francois Vilotte was keen to stress that the fact that the French market only opened in May means there is no point of comparison from Q1 2010.
The decline is the latest setback for the online gaming market in France, which got off to an inauspicious start and received early criticism from then-BetClic Everest chairman Stéphane Courbit.
“This is a significant decrease, but this does not mean that sports betting will be down more than 20% this year,” said Vilotte.
Last Friday, bwin.party co-CEO Norbert Teufelberger spoke of the teething problems with the French market, saying his company “learned a lot what works and what does not work.”
On an analyst call Teufelberger added that “The French government”¦ admitted that they went too far with the sports betting taxation, and they believe that about 75% of the volume in France is still in the black market.”
However, while sports betting as a whole suffered, the amount wagered on horse racing grew to 241m, more than the amount bet in the first four months since the market opened. The amount bet on online poker also grew, totaling 1.9bn in the first quarter.
Former monopoly Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) saw some growth in Q1, with the amount staked on horse racing up 3.8% to 2.47bn, it announced today. Its net profit grew even more, rising 8.3% quarter-on-quarter to sit at 791m, while its egaming arm pmu.fr saw growth of 57% (up to 318m) and 10 million unique visitors per month. It did not break out online figures.