French gambling revenue reaches €5.26bn in H1 despite 11% online decline

Revenue for the six months to the end of June amounted to €5.26bn (£4.59bn/$5.22bn), up from €4.92bn in the corresponding period last year, according to new figures published by French regulator Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ).

Française des Jeux (FDJ) remained the leading operator in the market, posting €3.22bn in revenue for the half, up 12.4% on last year. Lottery revenue was 16.0% higher than the year before at €2.73bn, though sports betting revenue slipped 4.5% to €485.0m.

ANJ also revealed that player spending with FDJ increased by 9.9% to more than €10.0bn for the period.

Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) reported €969.0m in gross gambling revenue for the six-month period, up 14.5% from €846.0m in 2021, and is now approaching the level it was at prior to the pandemic.

This revenue came exclusively from wagering on horse racing, with ANJ also noting that stakes climbed by 18.0% to €3.9bn, helped by the return of players to retail locations following the removal of Covid-19 measures.

Turning to online gambling, ANJ said this fell by 11.2% from €1.21bn in the first half of 2021 to €1.07bn this year.

Online sports betting revenue fell 11.8% to €685.0m with stakes also down 8.3% at €4.0bn. However, ANJ said that the corresponding period last year produced record sports betting figures, driven by the Euro 2020 football tournament.

Revenue from online horse racing betting slipped 17.6% to €169.0m, with stakes down by 17.5% to €727.0m, primarily due to more players returning to retail following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.

Online poker revenue was also down by 3.1% to €216.0m, though ANJ noted that compared to before the pandemic this level remains high.