Sports betting growth drives French Q1 revenues up 6%

French online gaming revenues grew 6% year-on-year to €219m in Q1, powered by record numbers of new sports betting customers and a surprise turnaround in poker revenues.

According to figures released Wednesday by French regulator ARJEL, sports betting revenues were up 16% to €94m, thanks largely to a 25% jump in weekly active customers to 341,000.

The sports revenues were generated on wagers of €633m, marking the highest figure in a quarter since the market opened in 2010 and surpassing the previous high of €585m in Q2 2016, which featured the European Championships.

Football continued to be the most popular sport to bet on with 55% of wagers, compared to 21% for tennis and 13% for basketball.

Elsewhere, poker revenues jumped up by 3% to €64m, with a 7% jump in tournament revenues overcoming a 4% drop in cash game revenues. The number of weekly active poker players fell 1% to 250,000.

Horseracing was the only reported vertical to decline, with revenues dipping 4% to €61m. A slight increase in return-to-player rates helped boost revenues in comparison to active player figures, which fell 5% to 142,000.

The total number of gamblers who made at least one online wager in Q1 was up 10% year-on-year to nearly 1.5m, another new quarterly record, while the number of female bettors jumped 40% to 70,000.