French Horse Racing: More Stakes & Players

Online Horse Racing: More Bets, More Players

France’s gambling authority, the ANJ (Autorité Nationale des Jeux), has released its report for the first half of 2024. A key takeaway: the online horse racing market is growing, with increased betting activity across all operators.

The ANJ reports that after a moderate increase in 2023, online horse racing has seen a more significant rise in stakes, up by 6% to a total of €787 million by the end of June 2024.

However, the gross gaming revenue (GGR), which is the difference between player bets and winnings, decreased by 2% compared to the first half of 2023. It remains around €170 million, similar to levels seen after the COVID-19 crisis. The number of active player accounts (CJA) increased by 3% between the first half of 2023 and 2024, reaching nearly 500,000. This rise mirrors a 3% increase in the number of bets placed, reaching 254 million.

PMU Impacted by First Half Performance

The ANJ report also examined operators under monopoly, including PMU. For the first time since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, PMU’s activity in the first half of 2024 declined compared to the same period in 2023. This includes both stakes and GGR, which decreased by 2% and 2.3% respectively, falling below 2022 levels. The first quarter of 2024 significantly impacted these results, with a decrease of approximately 4% in both stakes and GGR.

FDJ and Sports Betting Drive Market Growth

In the first half of 2024, the overall turnover of the gambling sector (excluding casinos) increased by 3.8% compared to the first half of 2023, reaching €5.5 billion. This growth is primarily driven by the strong performance of FDJ across all its activities and by the online sports betting segment, which saw a 16% increase in its GGR. FDJ’s GGR reached €3.5 billion in the first half of 2024, up 5.5% compared to the first half of 2023.

4.3 Million Online Players

There has been a surge in the number of online players. The ANJ report indicates that the total number of active player accounts (CJA) increased by 13% during the period, reaching 4.3 million. This increase is mainly observed in sports betting (+16%, or 3.6 million CJA) and, to a lesser extent, in poker, which saw its number of CJA increase in recent months (+11%, or nearly 1.5 million CJA).