The French gambling regulator has confirmed that €650m in stakes was placed during Euro 2024, down from total stakes of €700m in Euro 2020.
The French Online Gaming Association had previously said stakes were 50 per cent lower than L’Autorité Nationale des Jeux’s (ANJ’s) predictions of up to €1bn in bets for the latest tournament.
The shortfall, it said, confirms the "massive diversion of players from the legal offer to the illegal market.”
However, in confirming the €650m in stakes, the ANJ has claimed that the French elections and the “absence of goals scored by the French team in the group stage” were chief among the reasons for the “lower enthusiasm” for betting.
“These elements, added to the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, resulted in lower media coverage of the competition than in 2021 and lower audiences for the French team's matches,” the ANJ said.
The ANJ said it is aware that a “growing number” of illegal online casino sites are offering “ancillary” sports betting. But it said such sites are “poorly frequented” by the public, pointing to a December 2023 study by Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
For the first six months of the year, there was a 24 per cent rise in sports wagers in France to €5.2bn and growth in gross gaming revenue of 16 per cent to €871m.
“This growth in the GGR is not attributable only to the Euro football tournament because the cumulative GGR from January to May 2024 was already growing compared to last year,” the regulator said.
“More generally, the online gaming market is up 10 per cent in the first half of 2024 and stands at €1.3bn in GGR. Active player accounts (APAs) are also up sharply (13 per cent) compared to the first half of 2023.”
The ANJ said “no major incidents were noted” as regards compliance with advertising guidance by operators, with the “call for moderation” being “respected” by all brands.
It added that €240m could in stakes could be bet on the Paris Olympics, double the €120m wagered for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
A study by Toluna-Harris Interactive for the regulator has found that 59 per cent of French people plan to follow the competitions and, of these, a quarter intend to bet money.
https://www.intergameonline.com/igaming/news/anj-confirms-euro-2024-bets-down-on-forecasts