Chapter 2: Market overviews
was the largest segment of the digital gaming market in 2014, while in Italy it was outperformed by
casino games. In Germany, the co-existence of separate gaming regimes in the state of SchleswigHolstein and the rest of the country was upheld by the ECJ in 2014.
The dot.country model that is now prevalent across Europe poses all sorts of challenges from technical
to regulatory, tax and compliance. There are many technical challenges to begin with (data formats,
servers, security) but regulation may ultimately determine the configuration of an operator’s platform,
the two main factors being certification requirements and specific features and functionalities. Payment
processing methods may also differ as each dot.country market has its own ‘trust’ requirements and both
operators and bookmakers need to take local market characteristics into ac count.
France
Country
Most popular sports
France
Football, rugby union, handball, basketball, cycling,
sailing, volleyball, motorsport, golf, handball and tennis
The most watched sport in France on television and in terms of attendances is football. Other popular
sports include rugby union, handball, basketball, cycling, sailing, volleyball, motorsport, golf, handball
and tennis.
As the latest industry figures at the time of writing indicate, the third quarter of 2015 did not see any
signs of improvement for the French gaming market.
Sports betting in France, 2015 (%)
Volleyball
2%
Ice Hockey
2%
Rugby
3%
Handball
1%
Other
3%
Basketball
10%
Tennis
16%
Football
63%
FIFA World Cup
10%
Source: ARJEL
France's most recent industry figures confirmed the ongoing trend of the past few years: sports
betting is growing strongly but poker and online horse racing pari mutuel revenues continue to
drop. However, the rise in betting volumes is badly affected by the country's taxation system, which
taxes turnover rather than gross profits.
Digital Sports Betting 35