WEBMASTER NEWS
FRENCH ONLINE BETTING GROWS BUT PROFITS
REMAIN ELUSIVE
FRANCE’S ONLINE BETTING volumes
continued to grow impressively in 2015
but the country’s igaming market is still
precarious, year-end figures from the
country’s regulator ARJEL reveal.
The figures show that online betting
revenues from regulated operators did
not slow down in 2015, despite no major
football tournament such as the 2014
World Cup taking place.
Betting stakes rose 30% during 2015,
reaching €1.44bn, while stakes placed
in the fourth quarter of the year beat all
previous records and reached €452m, the
highest volume since the market regulated
in 2010.
The rise in betting volumes is a result of
an 8% rise in the number of weekly active
punters to 200,000 and an increase of 1.8
points in the pay out ratio to 81.3%, which
led to French punters betting more.
Gross profits were up 19% for betting
operators to €270m on 2014’s figure of
€227m. However, with operators’ taxes
based on stakes the level of taxation works
out at 46% of gross profits and net profits
for online betting, the actual amount
operators are left with and from which
they pay their running costs, rose just 6%
in 2015.
French-licensed betting operators
recorded losses of €11m in 2014 and it is
highly likely that they will continue to be
loss-making in 2015.
In terms of market share, new entrant
Winamax, which diversified by launching
a betting site in May 2014 and Unibet have
been highly aggressive in going after French
players.
Stakes for horse racing pari mutuel
were down 2% to €1bn, their lowest level
since 2010, while online poker cash game
stakes saw a further drop of 14% to €3.7bn
although entry fees for tournaments rose
14% to €1.7bn.
POKERSTARS HITS THE BIG SCREEN WITH AMAZON FIRE TV APP
POKERSTARS claims to have launched the
first major poker app on Amazon Fire TV
devices with its ‘Jackpot Poker by PokerStars’
social title.
Players using both Amazon Fire TV
and Fire TV Stick will be able to use their
big screens to play Jackpot Poker through
a specially designed interface for the platform.
PokerStars said that customers can play
the popular Spin & Go format and take on
PokerStars’ free-to-play player pool from all
over the globe.
Lloyd Melnick, PokerStars’ director
of social gaming, said: “We talked to our
customers who told us that they wanted
to enjoy Jackpot Poker by PokerStars on
other media.
“With the explosive growth of television
apps, this was the perfect opportunity to give
our players what they want.
“As the largest online poker company,
we feel it is important also to take a
leadership position in the social poker
space. By being the first major poker app
on Amazon Fire TV devices, we can help
poker players around the world find a new
way to enjoy their favorite sport.”
DRÜCKGLÜCK TV SHOW TO DEBUT ON SPORT1
SKILLONNET, THE casino software
supplier, has launched a new interactive
television show to be broadcast live on the
Sport1 channel in Germany.
‘DrückGlück.de die Casino Show’, run
in conjunction with SkillOnNet’s Germanfacing online casino DrückGlück, allows