French gambling market generated revenue of €13.4bn in 2023
All verticals registered growth for the first time since 2019 as GGR for the online segment climbed 7.2% year on year to €2.3bn
France’s gambling market recorded annual growth of 3.5% as gross gaming revenue (GGR) hit €13.4bn (£11.6bn) in 2023, mainly driven by online sports betting.
According to figures published by the French gambling regulator, Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), the online portion of the market jumped 7.2% year on year (YoY) to €2.3bn, with turnover mainly coming from sports betting (63.3%), followed by online poker (21.6%).
GGR generated by sports betting reached €1.48bn, representing a YoY increase of 6.4% despite no major sporting events taking place in the year. Total stakes increased 2.2% to €8.49bn.
However, the number of unique players decreased 7.3%, while active accounts fell 3.9%, due partly to the lack of major sporting events. This slide followed several years of continuous growth in the number of players since 2019, the ANJ said.
The regulator noted that despite the declining number of active accounts, the average stakes per account increased 6.3%, from €1,854 to €1,982.
The ANJ has asked operators to be attentive to the changes in player behaviour ahead of a busy period for sporting action with Euro 2024 and the Paris Olympics to take place this summer.
Elsewhere, online poker achieved the biggest growth across all verticals in 2023, with GGR climbing 14.1% YoY to €504m.
After declining in recent years, online horseracing stakes were up 5.1% to €1.51bn, leading to the sector’s GGR rising 1.9% YoY to €353m.
The report also examined France’s two monopoly holders: lottery, gaming and horseracing giant La Française des Jeux (FDJ) and horseracing operator Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU), with both accounting for a combined 62.7% of the total GGR in the French market.
The FDJ, which integrated horseracing operator ZEturf in the third quarter of last year, hit new record levels of GGR in 2023, reaching €6.6bn, up 1.8% YoY.
Meanwhile, around 27 million people used FDJ products in 2023, a 6% increase on 2022. Point-of-sale activities and “competing activities” were the main drivers of growth, with GGR up 10.4% YoY.
As for PMU, betting activity was up, while GGR came in at €1.7bn – up 1% on the previous year.
Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, president of the ANJ, commented: “This good health of the market demonstrates that demanding regulation is not an obstacle to development. This growth makes all the more relevant the objective of reducing the number of excessive gamblers that the ANJ has placed at the centre of its action for the years to come.
“In a 2024 context marked by the holding of two major sporting events (UEFA Euro 2024 and the Paris Olympic Games), the ANJ reminded operators that, due to the risk of intensification of gaming practices, they will have to exercise increased vigilance with regard to the prevention of gambling among minors and gambling behaviour, particularly among vulnerable people (notably 18-24 year olds).”