Online Poker Growth in France Levels Off Online Poker Growth in France Levels Off
Key Takeaways
  • GGR from tournament poker continued its long-standing growth trend in Q1 with an annual increase of 1.3%.
  • GGR from cash games posted a 6.6% decline last quarter, a modest drop considering that cash game revenue has mostly been in decline since the inception of the French regulated market.
  • Existing French operators expanding into Portugal represents additional opportunity for growth in the French market, but perhaps the biggest opportunity for another growth spurt in France lies in attracting another jurisdiction to join the Southern European coalition.

Online poker gross gaming revenue (GGR) in France dropped 1.5% on an annual basis in Q1 2019, according to figures released earlier this month by French gaming regulator ARJEL.

The modest decline represents the second consecutive quarter in which the market has experienced a small annual dip and follows seven straight quarters of annual increases.

This leveling off represents the end of the easy growth period following both from the run-up to, and the implementation of, shared liquidity in the market.

In January 2018, PokerStars became the first operator to join its players in France with those in Spain. During that quarter, online poker revenue figures in France reached a five-year high. Through the next two quarters of 2018, other operators expand their French player pools in a similar fashion, and revenue growth quickly settled in low single-digit growth.

That period is now over. Most operators have established their shared liquidity networks. In Q4, the first year-over-year decline in two years was recorded. This trend has now extended into Q1.