French gambling revenue was up by 3.5% in 2023

The French gambling regulator, L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), has released its definitive revenue figures for the full-year 2023, indicating a 3.5 percent year-on-year increase in gross gaming revenue, reaching €13.4 billion.

ANJ highlighted a widespread growth trend across all sectors, resulting in a record-breaking activity level for the industry. This surge follows a stabilization period in 2022, subsequent to the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact. Although the growth rate slightly trailed the Europe-wide average of 5.5 percent, it remained comparable to neighboring markets such as Germany, the UK, and Spain.

The former monopoly operators, Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) and PMU, collectively commanded 62.7 percent of the total gross gambling revenue, generating €6.6 billion and €1.7 billion, respectively. FDJ’s land-based and online sports betting revenue experienced a notable 10.4 percent increase, totaling €1 billion, fueled further by its expansion into all segments following the Q3 acquisition of ZEturf. Meanwhile, PMU achieved pre-pandemic levels.

Combined GGR from casino operators amounted to €2.7 billion, marking an 8 percent increase. ANJ reported that most land-based casino operators surpassed their revenue figures from 2019, prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, with over 80 percent of the revenue sourced from slots.

Online gambling witnessed a 7.2 percent rise in GGR, reaching €2.3 billion, where sports betting constituted 63.3 percent, online poker 21.6 percent, and online horse racing tote betting 15 percent. Notably, online casino remains unregulated in France. Sports betting revenue experienced a 6.4 percent increase to €1.5 billion, with stakes rising by 2.2 percent to €8.5 billion. However, there was a 3.9 percent decline in active accounts.

In light of the upcoming Euro 2024 football tournament and the Paris Olympic Games this summer, ANJ cautioned operators to closely monitor player behavior to prevent a surge in excessive gambling.

Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, president of ANJ, remarked:

The robust performance of the market underscores that stringent regulation does not hinder development. This growth underscores the importance of ANJ’s commitment to reducing the number of problem gamblers, a core focus of our efforts in the coming years.