World Cup win boosts online gambling industry in France

France’s World Cup win in Russia is fuelling a growth in gambling, if the data from national regulator ARJEL are any indication. ARJEL has published record sports wagering transactions in the second quarter.

As per the ARJEL reports, more than €1bn ($1.16bn) was spent for betting across 12 betting sites in the period, a substantial rise from €847m in the opening quarter of the year.

It is clear that the football World Cup is the obvious reason for this increase with punters shelling out €382m for betting on World Cup matches on various online platforms.

The winning run of France contributed much to this flurry of bets.

The French gaming giant Française des Jeux (FDJ) revealed that it received €333m in bets on the World Cup across its online and land-based businesses, just less than half of the €690m wagered in total across the country.

The final between France and Croatia, which France won 4-2, saw betting worth €67m across the sector, with FDJ’s €32m a record for bets on a single match.

Aside from financial figures, ARJEL reported that the World Cup helped to bring in a large number of new sports bettors.

A total of 960,000 new player accounts were created during the quarter, while the number of active player accounts per week climbed from 302,000 in Q2 of last year to 527,000 in 2018.

Meanwhile, away from the World Cup, ARJEL reported further gains in horse racing betting, with online wagers up 5 per ent year-on-year to €250m. This increase could have been higher had it not been for the World Cup, it said, as stakes fell 5 per cent during the first three weeks of the tournament.

ARJEL also reported gains in poker, with player accounts up 8 per cent to 246,000 and cash bet 9 per cent to €925m. Entry fees for online tournaments were also up 10 per cent year-on-year to €525m.