The downward spiral of cash poker in France continued in the last quarter, offsetting gains made in sports betting and horse race betting and dragging the dot.fr market to an overall decline.
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) from online poker in France fell 13% year-on-year to €72m during the first three months of 2013, as a 2% increase in entry fees for tournaments to €375m failed to “compensate for the high decrease of cash game activity”, according to national online gambling regulator ARJEL.
Stakes from poker ring games were down a substantial 13% to €1.48bn, with ARJEL noting that tournament entry fees “would have required an increase of 61%… to compensate for the 13% decline in cash game stakes.”
The performance saw online poker cede its status as France’s largest market sector, as operators led by former monopoly PMU also won €72m from French punters betting on horse racing during the period, up 5% year-on-year, off a 5% increase in stakes to €305m.
Sports betting GGR was up 19% to €44m, which ARJEL said was due to a 0.4% decrease in the rate of return to players, to 80.3% from 80.7% in Q1 2012. Stakes were up 17% to €204m, driven by increased betting on football, up 19%, basketball, up 35%, and tennis, up 15%.
The ailing poker sector however dragged the dot.fr market to an overall decline in GGR terms, down to €188m from €189m a year earlier.
The 13% fall in ring game stakes during the first quarter of 2013 mirrors the 13% contraction which occurred during 2012, driven by players switching to less highly taxed tournament formats, as well as by a restricted national player pool. ARJEL warned last November that a lack of potential new players meant the ceiling for growth in France’s online poker market had probably been reached.
While the volume of active poker players was up 1% on last year, ARJEL noted that an increase in numbers specialising in one format and a corresponding fall in those participating both – down nearly 100,000 compared to the same period a year earlier – effectively masked an overall decline in those playing on a regular basis.
ARJEL said: “The increasing population of players playing exclusively in cash game or tournaments, coupled with a decline in the average number of weekly cash game players of 9% indicates that the population of online poker decreases mainly due to the reduction in the base of those ‘regular’ players”.
Article written by Stephen Carter
High rake, closed market, only holdem and omaha allowed….