The French online betting and gaming industry recorded €435m in total stakes across the regulated verticals of online betting, poker and horse racing pari mutuel during the first quarter of 2020 (1 January-31 March), an annual rise 
of nearly 22%.
Sports betting performed strongly until the lockdown was implemented on 17 March. Stakes had risen 11% during January and February and gross win was up 48% at the end of February, ARJEL said, but then dropped 40% during March because of lockdown and the cancellation of all sporting events.
Online betting gross win was up 18% to €263m, the figure was helped by favourable sporting results. Sportsbooks recorded stakes of €1.2bn during the period, a drop of 4.4% on the same period in 2019. It is the first time in nine years that quarterly stakes have dropped in France, although the vertical’s €263m gross win total was the highest ever recorded since igaming regulation in 2010.
Online poker gross win increased 44% to €98m during the first quarter, driven in part by increased activity once the country had gone into lockdown. Cash games were up 24% to €28m on 2019 figures and tournament gross win was up 54% to €70m.
Online horserace betting gross win and stakes were up 10% on an annual basis to €74m and €300m respectively. Margins for brands like PMU and ZEBet were up two points to 25%, from a payout ratio of 76.6% compared to 78.4% in Q1 2019. Bonuses were down a whopping 54% to €4m, compared with €9m in the same period in 2019.
Football, tennis and basketball are the sports French players bet on the most. Sportnco’s runs the biggest B2B betting network in France, with clients such as NetBet, ZEBet, JOA Groupe and Genybet.
