France’s iGaming sector saw its turnover reach €444m ($503m) for Q3 2021, signalling a return to pre-Covid levels after record-breaking performances for the previous two quarters.

The country’s National Gaming Authority (ANJ) reported a marked decline in performance from Q2 and Q1, which saw its turnover climb to new heights. But for the latest three-month period, activity was down, with 2.2 million active player accounts versus 3.3 million in Q2.  

Likewise, sports betting stakes experienced a similar decrease, amounting to €1.6bn, a 25% decline from Q2’s €2.15bn. The ANJ attributes this drop to the UEFA European Football Championship and Tokyo Olympics, which helped drive the previous two quarters’ sports betting activity to unusually high levels.

Sports betting stakes for Q3 2021 were even below the prior-year period’s, but by a more modest 1%. However, the third quarter of 2020 was punctuated by two major sporting events that would normally have taken place in Q2.

Online betting on horse racing also declined, with stakes totalling €363m, a 9% year-on-year decrease. In addition, this also represents a decline from Q1 and Q2, which saw €481m and €400m respectively.

Moreover, activity for online poker was also down from the previous quarter by 7%, but remained significantly higher than in 2019.   

For the third quarter, the ANJ stated: “The online gambling market is marked by a stabilisation of growth of the activity in the third quarter of 2021.

“The turnover reached €444m, after the record performances recorded in the first and second quarters. This growth is at a very high level when we take 2019 as the reference quarter.”

https://www.gamblinginsider.com/news/14275/french-igaming-turnover-declines-as-growth-stabilises