Trends for France’s iGaming verticals were confirmed on Tuesday when the country’s online gaming regulator ARJEL revealed that fourth quarter stakes for online poker cash games dropped 23% to €1.2bn, with gross gaming revenues down 12% during the final months of 2013 to €65m.
Annual figures showed gross gaming revenues and stakes for online poker cash games had dropped 13% and 18% to €258m and €5.5bn respectively during 2013. Stakes for tournaments were up 5% to €1.4bn, although this was not enough to make up for the drop in cash game figures.
France’s online gaming operators generated €325m in tax revenues, excluding VAT, ARJEL said.
Online betting continued its upward trend, with a 41% rise in stakes to €264m and a 38% rise in gross win to €54m during the three month period. Over the 12-month period, stakes rose 20% to €848m and the gross win was up 19% to €164m, helped by football’s popularity, stakes on the beautiful game were up 39% in 2013. Basketball and tennis also proved attractive to punters as stakes on those sports rose 36% and 25% during the year.
Stakes for horse racing pari mutuel were down 6% to €278m with a gross win just about stable (-1%) at €67m during the quarter. Stakes were down 1% to €1.1bn over the course of the year while gross gaming revenues rose very slightly, 0.4% to €264m, in 2013. Operators achieved the rise in annual gross win through an equivalent reduction in the payout ratios to 78.2%.
