France roundup, Market make up, crypto on the rise
Barrière-iCasino, FDJ, Partouche, DAZN-Ligue 1, UK analysis of UCL quarters, crypto gambling is masive
Good morning, on Gaming&Co today:
France round up: Groupe Barrière, FDJ, Partouche and DAZN-Ligue 1 make up our news roundup
Market make up UCL QFs: UK market is mature and hyper competitive, but new entrants and bet builders are some of the ley
Rise of crypto gambling continues and rivals traditional brands
News shorts: Sportradar, Texas shoots the lottery messenger, Evolution report ‘author’ named
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France roundup: FDJ Q1s, Groupe Barrière, Groupe Partouche, DAZN-Ligue 1
Stricter regulations hit FDJ, Barrière CEO hits out at regulatory imbalance, Partouche strikes META deal and have DAZN and Ligue 1 (finally) reached breaking point?
Stricter set up
FDJ United recorded GGR of €925m in Q1 but said stricter regulations in the UK and increased taxes in the Netherlands had significantly impacted its online sports betting activities. That theme was illustrated by Unibet parent Kindred’s revenues dropping down 10% to €231m, despite active players increasing 10% during the period.
Money’s too tight to mention: In the Netherlands revenues were down 41% as new monthly net deposit limits of €700 and the effect of a 4% rise in GGR taxes to 34.2% were felt.
On the analyst call, FDJ United CFO Pascal Chaffard said the group had been “impacted by increased gaming taxation in the Netherlands, but more importantly, by stricter regulation implementation, both in the UK and the Netherlands”. FDJ said it was confident of returning to growth in the market, especially as active player numbers grew 15%.
Lottery and retail sports betting was up 3.6% YoY to €640m, while online lottery revenue in France rose 14% to €79m and total lottery revenues in its home market were up 5% to €528m.
No benefit for Groupe Barrière
Grégory Rabuel, CEO of Groupe Barriere, France’s largest casino group, and CEO of the trade body Casinos de France, reiterated his opposition to online casino regulation and said that the land-based casino sector was the only gambling vertical that had not benefited from major growth in recent years.
Speaking to Le Figaro last week, Rabuel said online sportsbooks, poker sites and groups like FDJ United had all benefited from an online gambling “explosion”, while France’s physical casinos and the 45,000 jobs they account for had not gleaned any benefits from the digital expansion of gaming offerings in the past 15 years.
Exception to the rule: Referring to the legalisation of online casinos, he said the discussion failed to take into account that France “has a cultural exception” in that its 200 casinos represent “40% of all the casinos in Europe”.
He added that regulating the vertical would lead to a 30% drop in casino revenues and, if it were to be regulated, it would have to be done via French land-based casinos "because of this French cultural exception”.
Rabuel also criticised the uneven taxation from which FDJ benefits across different verticals, while French casinos’ 58% tax on GGR means the government recoups €1.5bn in taxes from operators. Barrière pays €500m of that overall amount, “which is more than the GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet and Microsoft) paid to the tax authorities last year”. “Within today’s news, that really means something,” he added.
It Metas to me
Groupe Partouche has signed an agreement with META to strengthen its fight against illegal online casino operators that use Partouche’s logo, pictures of some of its senior executives and staff members to recruit players on Facebook and Instagram.
The casino group said that it had been "confronted by a massive campaign and fraudulent exploitation of its brands” for months. The agreement with META will lead “to faster notification and suppression of fraudulent content”.
Using well-known casino groups’ logos or the names of some of their most famous resorts on social media has for many years been a highly successful practice for unregulated operators targeting French players.
Ligue 1 broadcast crisis deepens
Breaking point? The long-running dispute over Ligue 1 broadcast rights is no closer to resolution after DAZN rejected a proposal from France’s Ligue de Football Professional (LFP) to terminate its five-year, €400m per year deal after just one season. The streaming giant and LFP have been at loggerheads all season over who is to blame for subscriber numbers falling well short of the 1.5 million mark needed for DAZN to break even.
Earlier this year, LFP took DAZN to court after the company withheld half the payment due in February, citing piracy concerns and a lack of promotion from the clubs. Both parties then entered a process in March where the mediator reportedly offered a compromise, based on DAZN paying the full amount for this season and an additional fee as compensation for the next campaign in exchange for early termination.
Ligue 1 clubs voted in favour of the proposal but DAZN has now rejected the offer, leading to continuing uncertainty for all parties in France, including OSB operators, who have seen lowered interest in French top-flight football as a result of the broadcast crisis impact betting volumes.
The drawn-out process that eventually saw historic broadcast partner Canal+ leave the negotiating table and DAZN acquire the TV rights from this season is unlikely to make Ligue 1 right any more attractive for other suitors.
French clubs from the country’s top two divisions are set to record combined losses of €1.2bn this year, which has led some clubs to support the idea of an LFP-run TV subscription offer, although DAZN’s travails show how difficult it is to generate a large subscriber base from scratch.
** IMPORTANT MESSAGE **
6-in-6: Simon Pilkington, ex-MD of Kafe Rocks, and Rob Dowling, CEO of The Conexus Group, are running six ultramarathons in six days - starting with the London Marathon and ending 180 miles later in Bristol - to raise £20,000 for the Oliver’s Wish Foundation.
Created in memory of Rob’s son Oliver, the foundation supports children’s charities, including Sudden Unexplained Death In Childhood UK, The Lullaby Trust, Chestnut Tree House and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The iGaming industry has rallied behind the cause, with executives taking on endurance events as part of “Oliver’s Army”, as part of a united effort to raise awareness and funds to support young lives.
How the iGaming industry can get involved: Financial contributions go directly to the charities supported by Oliver’s Wish. You can donate at: https://www.justgiving.com/page/olivers-army-6-ultras
If you’re UK-based, you can join Simon and Rob for a leg (or more) of the run between London and Bristol.
Share the story: Use your platform to help spread the word – on LinkedIn or within your company and organise a fundraising event at your office or sign up for a future challenge.
A Foundation Built on Love and Legacy
Oliver’s Wish was founded by Rob in memory of his son, Oliver. What began as a personal tribute has grown into a powerful platform for good – raising awareness and vital funds for charities that support children and young people.
To follow the journey and get involved, search #OliversArmy6in6 or visit oliverswish.org.uk.
For commercial sponsorship or coverage, please reach out to: brooke.petersen@theconexusgroup.com
Market Make-up: bet builder ingenuity breaks up UCL for UK sportsbooks
In-play, bet builders and a new UK entrant are all key takeaways from this month’s Market Make up
Sportsbook analysis: With two English clubs playing in the Champions League quarter finals last week, Matt Howard of Orbital Bet ran the rule over UK bookmakers’ offerings over key pre-match, live and bet builder markets for SBC News.
Key takeaways include:
The entry of challenger brand Midnite, which is also the betting sponsor of the World Snooker Championships that conclude this weekend.
In-play: fast payments continue to be highly attractive to players.
‘In-house vs. third party’ debates continue all over the industry and there are interesting nuggets to pick out as three of the eight sportsbooks surveyed run third-party bet builders.
Read the full feature on SBC News
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Crypto operators boom as player access increasingly easy
New breed of iGaming sites rival and outpace major B2C brands
Easy workarounds: Crypto casinos recorded $81.4bn in GGR in 2024 as consumers continue to play on unlicensed gambling websites in huge numbers by getting around geoblocking regulations in Asia, Europe and the US by using VPNs and redirect tools, according to figures from the monitoring provider Yield Sec quoted by the Financial Times.
The FT said crypto-focused groups like Stake, Rollbit and Roobet “now rival the biggest traditional gambling groups in scale”, with Stake claiming that it “accounts for up to 4%” of global bitcoin transactions.
Stake’s GGR was $4.7bn last year, a rise of 80% on the $2.6bn it recorded in 2023, and it now rivals groups like Entain (£5bn revenues) and Bet365 (£3.7bn) for scale and financial firepower, thanks in part to larger deposits and bets from crypto players when compared to those on ‘traditional’ fiat websites.
Ismail Vali, CEO of Yield Sec, told the FT that crypto casinos’ vast investments in marketing and partnerships with influencers were reaching young players, who were also being advised on how to bypass geo-restrictions.
The volatility of cryptocurrencies presented additional risks, with players feeling like they had bigger bankrolls to bet with when their cryptocurrency went, but that they had to chase their losses when it went down.
News shorts
Sportradar is set to record revenues of €307m-€311m in Q1, adj. EBITDA of €56m-€58m and profits of €20m-€24m in Q1. The group also plans to sell 23 million Class A ordinary shares in a secondary public offering by shareholders such as the Canada Pension Plan and Sportradar’s CEO Carsten Koerl.
Sportradar is also set to buy back 3 million shares for up to $75m as part of a $200m share repurchase programme. The group’s shares have risen more than 44% in the year to date and +157% over the past 12 months.
Jens Nielsen is set to leave Danske Spil after 31 years with the company on 5 May and take on his new role as Business Development Director for Sportradar's Managed Sportsbook Services.
Shoot the messenger: Ryan Mindell, the executive director of the Texas State Lottery resigned abruptly on Monday as the agency’s decision in 2023 to help the lottery messenger/courier Lottery.com and Malta-based bookmaker Colossus Bets purchase nearly 26 million Lotto Texas tickets that led a guaranteed $95m jackpot win.
The resignation came a day after the New York Times published video of the ticket printing operation and followed months of investigation by The Houston Chronicle.
Evolution report “author” named, except that it isn’t really, and probably never will be.
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Calendar
Results: 28 Apr: BetMGM, 29 Apr: Betsson, Caesars, 30 Apr: Kambi, MGM Resorts, 7 May: Flutter, 8 May: Super Group, Penn, DraftKings, 8- 9 May: DraftKings
Events: 13-15 May: SBC Summit Americas, Fort Lauderdales, Florida, 10-12 June: SBC Summit Malta, 5 Jun: Gaming in Holland, Amsterdam, 26 Jun: Gaming in Spain, Madrid
Contact
Get in touch with Jake Pollard to find out more about Gaming&Co: jake@gamingandco.info
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