French Gambling Market Reaches Record High in 2024
The French gambling sector is booming! The French National Gaming Authority (ANJ) has released its report on the gambling market in France for 2024, and the figures are staggering. All operators, including monopolies like FDJ and PMU, as well as those in competition, have accumulated a gross gaming revenue (GGR) of €14 billion, a historic record!
The COVID-19 pandemic, which had reduced the market to €10 billion, seems like a distant memory. With a 40% increase in just four years, will we see new heights in 2025? Let’s delve into these figures from the gambling market!
Key Highlights of the French Gambling Market in 2024
- Record Revenue: The gross gaming revenue reached a record €14 billion in 2024, up 4% compared to 2023.
- FDJ Dominance: FDJ United alone captures 50% of the market, with over €7 billion in gross gaming revenue.
- Casino Growth: Casinos continue their progress (+1.2%), representing €2.7 billion and nearly 20% of the market.
- PMU Decline: PMU experiences a historic decline in its point-of-sale activities (-2.6%), despite online growth.
- Online Gaming Surge: Online games explode with €2.5 billion, dominated by sports betting (67% of the online market in competition).
Strong Momentum: +4% Turnover in 2024, a Global Revenue of €14 Billion
The curve is soaring and shows no signs of slowing down! For the first time since the regulation of gambling in France, supervised by ARJEL and now ANJ, gambling operators have reached the strategic milestone of €14 billion in gross gaming revenue recorded in 2024, an increase of 4% over 2023, which already stood at €13.5 billion.
Several factors explain this new increase: consistently performing FDJ products, which account for 50% of the overall turnover of the gambling sector in France, as well as major events that boosted sports betting, the fastest-growing sector, with the Euro 2024 football championship and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
FDJ United: Over €7 Billion in Gross Gaming Revenue Alone!
Recently renamed FDJ United since the acquisition of Kindred, giving Française des Jeux an international dimension, it is the products of the French market, in monopoly with lottery and scratch card activities, or sports betting, poker, and horse racing activities that have allowed FDJ to outperform the gambling sector in France, accumulating €7 billion in gross gaming revenue, or 50% of the global market!
While the Parions Sport en Ligne brand is becoming increasingly popular, the successful launches of scratch cards like Ticket d’Or or Maxi Black Jack have largely contributed to maintaining strong growth in player stakes. Monopoly activity represents €5.8 billion of gross gaming revenue out of the total €7 billion.
Casinos Still Strongly Represented with €2.7 Billion in Revenue
The French network of casinos is one of the densest in the world, with 203 approved casinos in the country, awaiting new openings due to a change in the law in 2023.
After years of strong growth in 2023 and 2024, the sector is slowing down in 2024 but continues to progress (+1.2%) and represents nearly 20% of the global gambling market in France, ahead of online stakes, all operators combined.
The overall health of the casino sector is good, as 3/4 of establishments recorded a better year in 2024 than before the health crisis. However, these good figures should be put into perspective, as attendance in the 203 French casinos tends to decrease, so it is more big-spending players who are there.
The biggest winners in the casino sector are the small and medium-sized establishments, which on average achieve an increase in their gross gaming revenue of +3%, outperforming the average. Finally, Parisian gaming clubs, despite their closure at the end of 2024 in the absence of a legal framework and a “2025 budget voted,” experienced growth of 3.7%, the sector continues to do well.
PMU: A Difficult Year in 2024, But Still a Solid Player
The activities of the PMU group in monopoly have been declining for the first time in its history! Whether on stakes or on gross gaming revenue, the historical operator of horse racing betting and sole player in points of sale sees its activities decrease by 2.6% to €6.6 billion in stakes recorded in 2024.
While the online horse racing betting sector is progressing with encouraging growth, the small share of stakes made online does not stem the decline in stakes for horse races, a scenario that should not improve in 2025 with the tensions that PMU and the players in the horse racing industry are experiencing.
Online Gambling in Great Shape Driven by Sports Betting
Regarding the online gaming sector in competition, 2024 was once again a record year, accumulating €2.5 billion in gross gaming revenue. In this representation of online gambling, it is sports betting that is ahead, representing 67% of the online market and 19% growth for the year 2024 alone!
Between 2009 and 2025, the average annual growth rate of online games is +12%, an incredibly high growth!
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