Arjel Stats On French Gambling Market
Friday, May 4,2012 : ARJEL QUARTERLY STATS ON ONLINE FRENCH MARKET
Horserace betting and sportsbetting showing positive trend
French online gaming regulatory authority ARJEL has released its Q1 2012 stats on the state of the French online gaming market showing positive indicators in the online horserace betting and sports betting sectors.
The report is compiled using data supplied by licenced online gaming and sports betting operators active in the French market focusing on active player accounts (entered at least one game action over the period).
Summary of activity by sector: Q1-2012 :
Sportsbetting:
– The sportsbetting sector rebounded showing an increase of 14 percent over Q1-2011. This latest increase applies to all sports with the exception of tennis.
– Operator revenues up 7 percent.
– ARJEL reports 175 million in bets and active players' weekly attendance stable at 109 000 compared to Q1-2011.
– Football and tennis have proven again the most popular sports recording 59 percent and 19 percent of stakes in the sector overall.
– Major sporting events League football and Six Nations Rugby recorded increases of 39 percent and 42 percent respectively compared to the same period last year.
Horserace Betting:
– Continuing its success over the past year, horserace betting totaled Euro 291 million over the period recording an increase in bets of 13 percent and attendance up by 9 percent.
– 154 000 active player accounts per week during the quarter compared to 140 000 in Q1 2011.
– Operator turnover increased by 20 percent.
Online Poker:
– Recording an average attendance of 327 000 player accounts a week and a cash-game total of almost Euro 1.7 billion, the online poker sector confirmed two trends identified late 2011. While the tournament activity continues to be active and is rising by 26 percent in admissions, the cash game continued to decline by 5 percent over Q1-2011 with active player accounts down by 9 percent.
– Operator gross gaming revenues down 3 percent.
Player Demographics:
– Across all sectors 88 percent of online players are male. Most of those live in the Paris region and play online poker.
– Interestingly, there has been a marked aging of the average online player profile over the past year. The 18-24 age group decreased by 33 percent while the 55-64 age group increased by 34 percent between Q1 2011 and Q1 2012.
– Sports bettors are younger the report says with 62 percent under 35 years of age. 92 percent of sports bettors are male.
– 28 percent of horse race bettors are over 55 years of age. The sector is the most feminised with women accounting for 19 percent of horserace bettors.
Operational Data:
– Players fund their online accounts predominately using credit cards (87 percent), however, the use of pre-paid cards has increased by 10 percent over the Q1-2012.
– Punters spend on average :
– Sports bettors Euro 123 per week, placing an average Euro 6 per bet
– Horse race bettors Euro 144 per week, Euro 4.3 per bet
– Poker cash game players spend on avaerage Euro 130 per game, although 10 percent of those players generate 86 percent of stakes.
Mobile Channel:
– Increase in mobile bettors by:
Sports bettors – 15 percent (Q1-2011: 7 percent)
Poker players – 15 percent (Q1-2011: 4 percent)
Horse bettors – 12 percent (Q1-2011: 8 percent)
Marketing and Advertising Spend:
A marked shift beginning in August 2011 saw operators drastically cutting their marketing and advertising spend by almost half from Euro 86 million recorded in Q1-2011 to Euro 48 millin in Q1-2012.
In the period under review operators spent 55 percent of marketing expenses on bonusing and sponsorships at the expense of TV, radio, cinema and display advertising campaigns which decreased from 23 percent to just 12 percent.
Licencing Overview:
ARJEL lists 32 licenced operators for 45 active licences:
– 13 in the sports betting sector
– 8 in the horse race betting sector
– 24 in the online poker sector.
