French sports betting operators happy with world cup

Wednesday July 23,2014 :  BRAZIL'S WORD CUP FOOTBALL WAS GOOD FOR FRANCE, SAYS REGULATOR
 
ARJEL chief says wagering was up over the duration of the football tournament.
 
Charles Coppolani, the president of the French online gambling regulator ARJEL says the recently completed World Cup football festival in Brazil was good for French sports betting operators, and has helped the industry in France to recover from depressed results, with operators posting year-on-year growth in Q2-2014.
 
Coppolani said that the market had seen revenues rise 10 percent y-o-y to Euro 180.5 million, and that the rise in wagering assisted in pushing H1-2014 revenues to Euro 355.5 million – a 1 percent increase on H1-2013.
 
He said that French sports betting operators had experienced better wagering levels on the World Cup matches, with French licenced operators averaging Euro 1.5 million in bets per match…a third higher than that delivered by the previous World Cup in 2010.
 
The chief regulator said that although average bets did not rise at around Euro 10 to Euro 18 a game, there was a marked increase in casual gamblers taking a punt on their favourite national teams.