Winamax receives sports betting licence
French operator awarded five-year licence as it looks to diversify away from its core poker business
Winamax has received regulatory approval from l’Autorité de regulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL) to launch an online sportsbook.
The five-year sports betting licence will enable the Paris-based company to offer pari-mutuel and fixed-odds betting via the Winamax.fr domain.
The operator was unable to discuss its sportsbook plans further when contacted for comment but it has recently begun a recruitment drive for sports-related positions.
Winamax is currently France’s largest poker operator but the vertical has been in a prolonged period of decline with the most recent figures showing a 10% year-on-year fall in gross gaming revenue in Q1 2014 to 65m, down from 72m compared to the same period last year.
Total stakes also fell to 1.2bn, down 12% on the figure recorded in Q1 2013. “French online poker operators, even more than horse racing, are struggling to recover an activity which began its decline more than two years ago,” ARJEL said in a statement.
However, The French sports betting market overall performed well last quarter recording a 22% year-on-year increase in turnover which the French regulator ARJEL attributed to the renewed attractiveness of the French football leagues.
Rival French operator Betlic recently reported a 24% year-on-year increase in sports betting turnover from its dot.fr site.
The awarding of the Winamax licence follows the news that rival poker operator Full Tilt is also planning to diversify away from poker by moving into the sports betting market.