Market Monitor: France Q2 2020
Key Takeaways
  • Gross gaming revenue in online poker in the French regulated market catapulted up to €142 million in Q2 2020.
  • Already this year, the market has generated €240 million, more than full-year market revenue in 2016 and 2017.
  • Both cash games and tournament poker grew in Q2, but it was the latter that performed the best.
  • Online poker in Q2 generated more revenue than the other two regulated gaming verticals in France.

Gross gaming revenue in online poker in the French regulated market catapulted up to €142 million in Q2 2020, growth of more than double year-over-year.

Outside of the prior quarter—which itself was up 44% year-over-year—Q2 2020 was almost double the next previous high the market has observed since it first opened ten years ago. Already this year, the market has generated €240 million, more than full-year revenue in 2016 and 2017.

Both cash games and tournament poker grew in Q2, but it was the latter that performed by far the best. Revenue at cash game tables hit €39 million, up 81% year-over-year, though the market high for cash games is still set in the early first quarters, when cash was the much more popular format.

Today, tournaments make up the largest share of revenue in practically all markets, and the trend continued in Q2 2020—it grew by a factor of 2.5 year-over-year to €103 million. Its share of poker revenue is at 72.5%, the highest it has ever been.

Perhaps the even more dramatic statistic is that online poker in Q2 generated more revenue than the other two regulated gaming verticals in France—betting on sports and horse racing. Normally poker generates about the same amount as horse racing, while sports is over three times larger.

However, with the country-wide lockdowns of the coronavirus, sports betting collapsed in Q2 by two-thirds, from €263 million to €84 million. Horse racing, which mostly continued in France, ticked up 33% to €88 million, as some sports punters moved betting activity over. But poker’s €142 million eclipses them both, representing 44% of total market revenue.