Sportsbetting saves the day For French Gambling Tax

Friday February 7,2014 : FRENCH TAXMAN'S TAKE A LITTLE DOWN ON INTERNET GAMBLING
 
Sportsbetting saves the day in La Belle France
 
The French taxman had to be satisfied with a slightly lower boost from online gambling last year, taking in Euro 325 million (2012: Euro 327 million), according to numbers released by the French regulator ARJEL.
 
It could have been worse if sports betting hadn't saved the day with a larger contribution to taxes due to a late 41 percent surge in the last quarter, which generated stakes of Euro 264 million.
 
Overall, parimutuel horse racing delivered taxes of Euro 160 million; online poker contributions were lower at Euro 86 million and sportsbetting drew tax of Euro 79 million.
 
During 2013 the weak online poker performance numbers had been preparing the French taxman for the bad news, which by the end of the year saw cash game stakes down 18 percent to just over a billion Euros.