The inexorable rise of France’s illegal market
France’s iGaming trade body highlights illegal market prominence ahead of AGM
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AFJEL study highlights prominence of illegal operators, calls for iCasino regulation
Results: Super Group, Genius Sports, Kambi
Google’s to strengthen web3 gambling enforcement on Youtube
NIBS: Kenny Alexander, Sportradar-IMG, Gentoo Media
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The inexorable rise of France’s illegal market
Unregulated, uncontrolled and untaxed iCasino, sports and eSports betting continue growing
Ring the alarm: France’s online gambling trade body AFJEL has sounded the alarm over the number of French consumers visiting illegal sites as their numbers have risen 35% to 5.4 million in the past two years and once again called for the regulation of online casino in France following the publication of a report it commissioned from the audit firm PwC to evaluate how French consumers interacted with unregulated casino, sports betting and eSports operators.
Ignorance is bliss: The study found that 82% of players visiting the sites did not realise the portals they were playing on were illegal according to French law, with the practice normalised by social media and influencers, according to AFJEL, and revealed that more than 500 sites and apps are easily accessible through a simple internet search. Of that figure, 280 of those websites are casino-focused.
Legal vagaries: One recreational player who spent up to €200 a month told Le Parisien that while he knew that “physical or virtual casino always win, I had no idea that playing on them was illegal”.
AFJEL added that with social media and influencer-led marketing normalising the practice, 82% of the players surveyed did not know about the current regulatory setup in France and were unaware that online casinos were illegal.
Nicoals Béraud, AFJEL President and chairman of Betclic parent Banijay Gaming, told Le Parisien: “This +35% explosion in the past two years% is linked to the increasing difficulties (the authorities are experiencing) in blocking these popular casinos because we have woken up too late to the fact that these sites and apps are easy to find on internet and in app stores.”
Pinch of salt: Stéphane Piallat, Head of the ‘courses et jeux’, France’s racing and gaming police, expressed weariness at the findings however. “There would be as many illegal players as there are physical players in France. It’s surprising, especially when we see that the legal market is dynamic and growing.” The study, which surveyed 5,000 French adults, was published as a preview of AFJEL’s annual meeting in Paris today that will discuss all these issues.
Clear solutions
Posting on Linkedin, Alexandre Tuaillon, Head of regulatory affairs at Betclic, said illegal operators generate around €2bn in revenues and the market is “not controlled and not taxed” and “represents €1.2bn in lost revenues for the State”.
“The solutions are well known,” he added, “regulate online casino to better control it, block payment methods (to illegal operators), ban advertising and block URLs.”
In addition, unregulated sports (1.3 million players) and eSports (1 million players) betting continues to grow. Le Parisien noted that the latter segment has been enjoying strong growth recently, buoyed by young gamers keen to wager on their skills and knowledge of video games.
Online casino regulation is a long running topic in France and has once again been in the spotlight following Gaming&Co’s exclusive revelations about the arrest of Grégoire Auzoux, CEO of Cresus Casino. The country’s powerful land-based casinos however are still opposed to seeing their products in digital form, or at least not prepared to lobby for it.
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Super Group’s casino focus delivers
Regional specificities enable strong Q3 for Betway and Spin parent
O Canada: Super Group’s online casino focus and low exposure to NFL results helped it record a strong Q3 as revenues rose 26% YoY to $557m and were 9% above consensus, while EBITDA shot up 65% to $152m, beating Street expectations by 18%. For the analysts at Citizens, “the magnitude of the beat makes this one of the more impressive results across the gaming sector”.
Sportsbook handle was up 12% YoY and betting GGR increased 30% and on a regional basis its African activities were up 10%, where it enjoyed strong trading in Ghana, Tanzania and Botswana.
According to industry analyst Alun Bowden however, Super Group’s strong results in the UK may have been related to it having “some of the lowest affordability limits around”, which “tend to have a strong impact on revenue growth,” he said.
Canada continues to be a strong market for the group’s Spin brands, “although that market is just going to get tougher and tougher as other provinces regulate and crypto continues to scale,” noted Bowden.
Super Group has cash reserves of $462m and returned $20m to shareholders in Q3. Citizens said its core iCasino markets in Europe grew at +50% YoY, Africa at +37% and Canada at +15% and “support >50% operating leverage and driving cash to the bottom line”.
Genius strengthens partnerships and client deals…
… but foreign exchange flux hits Q3 income
Highlights reel: Expanded partnerships with Hard Rock Bet and ESPNBet, the launch of BetVision for global basketball competitions, official data and streaming rights deals for Serie A and advertising content delivery for brands like for Shopify, NBA 2K and FanDuel Sports Network’s were some of the business highlights that helped Genius Sports’ Q3 revenues increase 38% YoY to $166m.
Exchange flux: The group’s media division grew 89% to $42m as volumes from its core betting activities drove a 28% rise in revenue to $110m rise during the period. Group adj. EBITDA rose 32% to $34m, although net losses came in at -$28.8m vs. an operating income of $12.5m in 2024, mainly due to a $7.5m loss on foreign currency during the quarter, the group said.
The group also finalised its acquisition of the fan activation platform Sports Innovation Lab and announced a new partnership with the agency PMG, which represents brands such as Nike, Western and Beats by Dre.
Genius raised its FY25 revenue guidance to $655m (+28% YoY) and adj. EBITDA forecast to $135m (+59% YoY).
Kambi Q3 revenues down as commercial pipeline fills up
Sportsbook provider acquires OMEGA source code to develop in-house PAM
Commercial legwork: Kambi’s Q3 revenues were down 13% YoY to €37.4m and adj. EBITDA dropped 30% to €3.4m, but CEO Werner Becher said that since the start of the quarter, the group had “signed seven Turnkey Sportsbook partners, three Odds Feed+ deals and two partner renewals – a clear reflection of the commercial progress we are making”.
Kambi also announced the acquisition of OMEGA Systems’ source code for its player account management (PAM) system, to “unlock commercial opportunities, initially in the US state of Nevada”, where the group secured a license.
It recently signed sportsbook partnerships with Betnation and Holland Gaming in the Netherlands and this week announced a long-term partnership with the Europe and Brazil-focused operator Superbet for its Odds Feed+ data products for Superbet and Napoleon brands across multiple markets.
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Google’s gambling update
Search giant zeroes in on web3 gaming and graphic content
Enforcement expansion: Google has announced it will be strengthening enforcement of its guidelines around online gambling and graphic violence in gaming. The search giant’s current policy currently prevents redirecting traffic to sites that are not certified by Google. From 17 November it will be expanding “enforcement to cover online gambling with additional items that have monetary value, including digital goods” such as “video game skins, cosmetics and NFTs”.
Social casino-style games that depict, promote or facilitate social casino sites will now be age-restricted, even if they don’t feature real-money wagers or prizes. The new measures also include age restrictions for graphic gaming content that feature “realistic human characters” involved in torture or mass violence scenes.
The news comes as the rapper Drake and influencer Adin Ross are being sued in California for acting as brand ambassadors for the crypto-gambling giant Stake. Other recent scandals in France has also featured Kick, Stake’s streaming platform that acts as a major traffic driver to crypto-gambling sites.
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News shorts
The trial of Kenny Alexander, former CEO of Ladbrokes and Coral parent GVC, and ex-colleagues for bribery related to the group’s historic activities in Turkey has been set for 2028. The defence team flagged concerns over some of the prosecution’s evidence.
Sportradar has completed the acquisition of IMG Arena and said the deal adds more than 70 rights holders to a content library that now features nearly 40,000 official data events and 29,000 streaming events across 14 global sports worldwide, including three of the four tennis Grand Slams, Major League Soccer and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL and the PGA TOUR.
Deal of the century: As part of the transaction, IMG is paying Sportradar $225m, including $120m cash prepayments going to some rights holders and approximately $103m to Sportradar.
EveryMatrix will supply its online casino and bingo product portfolio to the Danish national operator Danske Spil as part of a launch scheduled for summer 2026. Danske Spil said it looked forward “to integrate with a wide range of game providers, strengthening both our offering and the overall player experience”.
Gentoo Media (ex-GIG Media) has obtained a waiver on the loan covenants related to debt and interest payment linked to its revolving credit facility totalling €25m on which €23m has been drawn. The new terms will see extra interest costs of €350k until September 2026, reduced and more flexible covenants and a minimum monthly cash balance of €3m.
Camilla Rosenberg, who has been DG of the Swedish Gambling Authority for 10 years, is set to step down from her role and will be starting a new role as director and head of the Real Estate Agents’ Inspectorate. The highlight of her time at the SGA was Sweden’s ‘reregulation’ of its gambling market in 2019 and the launch of Spelpaus.se.
Calendar
Results: 6 Nov: Banijay/Betclic Group, Raketech, DraftKings, Penn Entertainment
Contact
Get in touch with Jake Pollard to find out more about Gaming&Co: jake@gamingandco.info
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