France’s national gambling authority, l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), published its 2022 market report, showing disparities across the different verticals.
Brick-and-Mortar Gambling on the Rise
Gross gaming revenue for the year reached a record €12.9 billion ($13.9 billion), posting an increase of 20% compared to 2021, spearheaded by operators holding exclusive rights (La Française des Jeux (FDJ) and Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU)) and casinos which contributed €8.2 billion ($8.8 billion), or 64%.
The reopening of almost all retail points of sale since June led to normalizing the business environment for the operators and resulted in an 8% growth in the segment. Within the segment, lottery registered GGR of €5.6 billion ($6 billion), or an increase of 10.2%, with its digital channel accounting for 8.7% growth to reach 12% of total stakes.
Betting on horse racing finally began to recover from the negative impact in the previous two years, posting a nearly 10% increase year-over-year mainly due to the return of punters to the race tracks in the first half of the year.
Casinos posted GGR of €2.5 billion ($2.69 billion) in 2022, registering an increase of 130% year-over-year, supported by the reopening of casinos that were for two years operating under restrictions and with reduced capacity. Casinos marginally surpassed the pre-pandemic 2019 GGR of €2.4 billion ($2.58 billion).
Online Gambling Keeping Gains
The online gambling segment of the market registered GGR of €2.18 billion ($2.34 billion), posting a marginal increase year-over-year, and showing signs of peaking after strong years of growth between 2017 and 2021. The largest share of the segment was for sports betting with 64%, followed by betting on horse racing with 16%, and online poker with 20%.
The record €8.3 billion ($8.9 billion) in stakes helped the segment generate online sports betting GGR of €1.38 billion ($1.48 billion), up 2.5% compared to 2021. Active player accounts marginally increased to 4.5 million, while the average GGR per account was €312 ($335), up 3% year-over-year, and the average number of bets increased 6.6% year-over-year to 162.
Among sports, football is the top preferred by bettors attracting 56% of the stakes, followed by tennis with 22% and basketball with 12%. These three sports account for 90% of the entire market.
The return of physical betting on horse racing impacted the online vertical and online stakes on horse racing registered a decrease of 9% to €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) year-over-year, while GGR was down 8% to €346 million ($372 million).
Online poker registered a growth of 3% compared to 2021, with GGR reaching €442 million ($475.1 million) and the number of active player accounts grew by 7% to 1.76 million (1.65 million in 2021).
