French gambling regulator reports record GGR for 2022
French gross gaming revenue rose to €12.9bn.
France.- The French gambling regulator L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) has reported that gross gaming revenue (GGR) generated by its licensees in 2022 reached a record €12.9bn. Almost two thirds of revenue was generated by the two big monopolies, lottery operator Française des Jeux (FDJ) and horse racing betting operator Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU).
They generated revenue of €8.2bn in 2022 – 64 per cent of all GGR – as the land-based sector bounced back from the impact of Covid-19 restrictions in the previous years.
The ANJ said: “These activities show a remarkable level of overall growth compared to last year, benefiting from an environment that has normalised – with the reopening of almost all points of sale since June.
Lottery revenue rose 10.2 per cent year-on-year to €5.6bn and land-based casino revenue rose by 130 per cent to €2.5bn, just over the 2019 total of €2.4bn. Online gaming GGR rose by 0.8 per cent to €2.18bn, with 64 per cent of that from sports betting, 20 per cent from online poker and 16 per cent from horse racing.
Sports betting GGR reached €1.38bn from record stakes of €8.3bn, while online poker generated GGR of €442m. Online casino gaming is not regulated in France, but last week Philippe Latombe of the Democratic Movement Party introduced a bill to regulate the sector.
Bill 1248, which will be considered by the National Assembly, proposes a five-year moratorium during which regulated online casino in France would be offered only by existing national operators.
Article 2 sets the end of this timeframe as January 1, 2030, after which the market would be opened to international operators. The justification for this is to protect existing operators and allow a stable start for the market before fully opening to competition.
