The COVID-19 outbreak has significantly affected the French sports betting industry.
The French online gambling sector experienced a decline in earnings during the second quarter, attributed to a sharp reduction in sports wagering due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Nevertheless, growth in the initial quarter of 2020, coupled with robust performance in horse racing betting and poker, resulted in an increase in revenue for the initial six months of the year.
Earnings decreased to €323 million in the three-month period ending June 30. France’s gambling regulatory body, the National Gambling Authority (ANJ), attributed this decline to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the cancellation of numerous sporting events, including the premature conclusion of the French football season in April.
This resulted in a substantial drop in sports betting stakes to €513 million, of which €445 million was wagered on football, while an additional €36 million was wagered on baseball and €18 million on basketball.
The regulatory body attempted to compensate for the loss of major sporting events by permitting betting on alternative competitions, including Australian rules football and soccer.
The Hungarian national football cup, as well as the South Korean and Chinese soccer leagues, are permitted. Wagering on Korean baseball and Belarusian ice hockey is also allowed.
Though sports betting performed poorly in the second quarter, horse racing betting demonstrated greater strength, even with French racing suspended from March 17 to May 11. Wagering increased by 34.6% to €362 million, while earnings rose by 33.3% to €88 million. The ANJ observed that this was the highest growth rate ever recorded in the market since its opening in 2010, setting new highs for both earnings and volume.
Poker was the star of the second quarter, with earnings more than doubling year-on-year to €142 million, the largest contribution of any product, as players turned to the game during the lockdown. This broke down into €39 million in cash game earnings, up 81.4%, and €103 million in tournament earnings, up 148.2%, following a strong first quarter.
The number of active player accounts for poker grew by 67.8% to 1 million, and average spending per active account in the second quarter increased by 35.4% to €134.
This signifies that online earnings for the first half of the year (to June 30) increased by 8.3% to €758 million, with the struggles of sports betting offset by the growth of poker and horse racing.
Sports betting wagering decreased by 30.0% to €1.73 billion over the six-month period, while earnings fell by 18.3% to €356 million, as all major sporting events were suspended.
Beginning on March 16th, the initial three-month period witnessed a confinement enforced, which persisted until May 10th, extending into the subsequent three-month period. Throughout this timeframe, wagering sums plummeted by 84.7% to €121 million, and operator earnings dwindled by 86.8% to €20 million. This contrasts with €121 million in wagering sums and €20 million in operator earnings from March 18th to May 12th, 2019.
Conversely, horse racing wagers exhibited a 22.1% surge in the initial three-month period, reaching €662 million, with earnings expanding by 21.8% to €162 million. The ANJ attributed the growth in horse racing to sports bettors shifting their focus to horse racing wagers, and heightened coverage of foreign events counterbalancing the losses stemming from French events.
This implies that despite the average number of weekly active player accounts declining to 119,000 during the confinement, wagering sums climbed by 16.4% to €192 million, with earnings rising by 20.0% to €48 million. The ANJ further noted that upon the resumption of French horse racing, the player base swiftly expanded, and wagering sums accelerated.
Concurrently, poker’s performance in the initial three-month period was largely driven by the subsequent three-month period, with earnings escalating by 82.4% to €239 million. Of this sum, €110 million was generated during the confinement; between March 16th and May 10th, the average number of weekly active accounts surged by 89.0% to 499,000, with the €110 million in earnings representing a 175.0% increase from the €40 million generated between March 18th and May 12th, 2019.
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