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ANJ: Summary of the Online gambling market for the first quarter of 2021: business continues to grow in all gambling segments
After a singular year in 2020, which ended with a 22% increase in the sector’s turnover, the first quarter of 2021 confirms the very dynamic growth of the online gambling market, with a 35% increase in turnover compared to the same period in 2020. Sports and horse racing betting once again recorded record stakes, while poker, still on the rise, began to return to normal.
In the first quarter of 2021, the turnover of the online gambling sector is up 35% and amounts to 587 million euros. The business was driven by 3.1 million players on accounts, a player base that is up 19% compared to 2020. Each segment of online gambling opened to competition have seen further strong growth in activity this quarter. These performances illustrate the acceleration of the digitalisation of gambling practices, which is a consequence of the health crisis and whose structuring character will have to be confirmed over the long term. As such, the levels of growth recorded in the first quarter of 2021, which are measured in relation to the first quarter of 2020, should be viewed with a certain amount of caution since, on the one hand, they are influenced upwards, for the two online betting segments, by the loss of business linked to the suspension of French sports betting and horse racing betting and, on the other hand, they are oriented downwards for the online poker market, due to the peak of business recorded at the same period last year.
Online sports betting: record stakes and new players
The online sports betting segment, which was the most affected by the first period of lockdown, is the one that has seen the most spectacular growth in stakes this quarter. 2.2 billion euros (+79%[1] compared to Q1 2020) were approximatively bet by the players on the competitions of the quarter, which corresponds to the highest amount of stakes recorded in a quarter. The number of sports bettors in the quarter increased by 29% to almost 2.5 million active player accounts (APA). It is very likely that the growth in activity will continue at a high rate this year due to the two major competitions, the European football championship and the Summer Olympic Games.
The FDJ reports a volume of sports betting stakes recorded on the two distribution channels equal to 1.1 billion euros in the first quarter of 2021, which corresponds to an increase of 46% compared to its results for the first quarter of 2020.
Online horse racing betting: growth continues and expands
The growth dynamic of the online horse racing betting market observed in 2020 is also continuing at a very steady pace. The horse racing stakes, which amount to 481 million euros, increased by 60% compared to the first quarter of 2020, again the highest volume of stakes recorded in a quarter. At the same time, the turnover of the six licensed horse racing betting operators reached 110 million euros, an increase of 48% compared to the first quarter of 2020. Online horse racing betting also recorded a 13% increase in players, with a total of 402,000 active player accounts (APA) over the quarter.
The horse racing betting offer at points of sale remains affected by the health restrictions which, as revealed by PMU, led to the closure of almost 40% of the points of sale for several consecutive months. As a result, the operator posted a 23% drop in stakes placed in its network of sales outlets for a total of 1.3 billion euros.
Online poker: lower growth marks the beginning of a return to normality
Online poker, which recorded the highest turnover increase in 2020, continues to grow at a sustained rate but at a lower rate than in previous quarters. Thus, the sector’s turnover grew by 23% to 120 million euros. The number of online poker players grew by 9% (991,000 active player accounts, (APA)). The results of online poker for the next quarter should however interrupt this dynamic, since they will be calculated with regard to the 2nd quarter of 2020, which had shown an exceptional level of activity due to the first lockdown.
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|
Q1 2020
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Q1 2021
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Variation
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TOTAL
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|
|
|
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Actives player accounts
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2 598 000
|
3 078 000
|
+ 19%
|
|
Gross Gambling Revenue
|
435 m€
|
587 m€
|
+ 35%
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|
Sports betting
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|||
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Actives player accounts
|
1 915 000
|
2 466 000
|
+ 29%
|
|
stakes
|
1 220 m€
|
2 181 m€
|
+ 79%
|
|
Gross Gambling Revenue
|
263 m€
|
357 m€
|
+ 36%
|
|
Horse racing betting
|
|
|
|
|
Actives player accounts
|
357 000
|
402 000
|
+ 13%
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|
stakes
|
300 m€
|
481 m€
|
+ 60%
|
|
Gross Gambling Revenue
|
74 m€
|
110 m€
|
+ 48%
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|
Poker
|
|
|
|
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Actives player accounts
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906 000
|
991 000
|
+ 9%
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|
Gross Gambling Revenue
|
98 m€
|
120 m€
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+ 23%
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For Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, ANJ’s Chairwoman: “The online gambling dynamics goes on and is accelerating this quarter. It calls for a certain vigilance and must be accompanied in order to guarantee the protection of players, especially in the run-up to major sport events such as the EURO football tournament or the Tokyo Olympic Games. As such, the ANJ reminded operators of the need for their commercial communications to emphasise the importance of maintaining a moderate and controlled gambling practice and for bonuses or welcome offers to be sufficiently clear, enabling players to understand the commitments they underlie. Additionally, the ANJ will pay particular attention to tipsters’ Websites which have recently strongly developed. Some of these Websites are in fact involved in misleading practices and present a real danger for players.”
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Relax Gaming, the iGaming aggregator and supplier of award-winning content, has announced the appointment of Antonia Svensson as its new Chief Commercial Officer, marking a key step in the company’s next phase of commercial growth.
Svensson brings over 13 years of experience in the gaming industry, having held senior leadership roles across payments, content supply, and operations.
Her career began at Trustly, overseeing payment solutions for the gaming vertical, before joining Yggdrasil Gaming as Chief Commercial Officer. Most recently, she served as General Manager Malta at Light & Wonder, where she was responsible for the company’s online casino business across Europe.
In addition to her executive background, Svensson has sat on several gaming industry boards, including Fantasma Games, contributing strategic insights to support business development and innovation.
Now based at Relax Gaming’s Malta headquarters, Svensson will oversee all commercial activity across the group, supporting its global roadmap and driving new revenue opportunities through strategic partnerships.
Martin Stålros, CEO at Relax Gaming, said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Antonia to Relax as our new CCO. Her standout experience and industry knowledge can serve as a fantastic asset to the company on a commercial level and I’m delighted that she has joined Relax at such an exciting stage in our development.”
Antonia Svensson, Chief Commercial Officer at Relax Gaming, said: “Relax Gaming has carved out an impressive reputation as one of the most forward-thinking and dynamic companies in iGaming. Having watched its growth closely over the years, I’m incredibly proud to now be part of this journey.
“I’m eager to collaborate with the talented team here to drive strategic growth, strengthen our partner relationships, and unlock new commercial opportunities across global markets.”
The post Relax Gaming appoints Antonia Svensson as Chief Commercial Officer appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Pioneering cash-to-digital payments company teams up with market-leading payment orchestration platform to help partners unlock their full potential
Neosurf, the progressive online payments company known for its expertise in cash-to-digital solutions, smooth user experiences and providing ongoing responsible gaming and AML support to its partners has announced it has formed a new strategic partnership with the highly scalable and data-centric payment orchestration platform, BridgerPay.
Famed in the online payments industry for its prebuilt connections, unified dashboard and single-source reporting, BridgerPay is a fully agnostic platform that can be integrated into any set-up to help clients automate their payment flows and gain real-time insights into their customers.
Among the company’s wide range of solutions, BridgerPay is particularly well-known for its Bridger RetryTM capability, which empowers clients to save up to 30% of soft declined card payments by automatically referring them to fallback providers without disrupting the customer experience.
“Like Neosurf, BridgerPay is a company that’s fully committed to improving the online payments experience not just for operators, but for their customers as well,” said Andrea McGeachin, Neosurf’s Group CEO. “By teaming up with them, we’ll be able to ensure that Neosurf is seamlessly integrated into their clients’ checkouts as a payment option, giving bettors even more freedom over how they deposit.
“Not only will this improve the online cashier experience for customers by giving them instant access to our quick and secure cash-to-digital solutions, but it will also allow all BridgerPay partners to serve the huge number of players who prefer to use cash for their online transactions.”
With BridgerPay already helping organisations worldwide connect with hundreds of payment providers through simple, ready-made integrations, adding Neosurf further expands merchant choice and customer access.
“We’re delighted to partner with Neosurf. Their cash-to-digital payment solutions will play an important role in helping our clients reach and engage new customers across a wide range of markets,” said Matthew Boundy, PSP Partnership Manager. “Offering a service that reduces operators’ transaction costs, supports responsible gaming and AML best practice and provides a frictionless user experience to customers, they’re a key partner for us and will add enormous value to our clients.”
Though initially covering just European markets, the partnership between Neosurf and BridgerPay has plenty of scope to grow in future and will also see the two companies share knowledge and collaborate on technical solutions as they continue to innovate within the online payment space.
The post Neosurf and BridgerPay announce new strategic partnership appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
EveryMatrix has agreed its largest ever global casino aggregation deal supplying bet365 with both its own exclusive content and titles from more than 40 premium games providers.
SlotMatrix, part of the EveryMatrix Group, is the largest aggregation platform in the world with more than 37,000 games from 350+ global suppliers including the Group’s own, Armadillo and Fantasma Studios.
It will offer bet365 more than 40 vendors across multiple regulated markets including the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Mexico with further territories slated for future release.
The business unit was further bolstered in 2024 by the acquisition of Fantasma Games and, earlier this year, by a new management team focused on accelerating aggregation and content services expansion across both existing and new regulated markets.
This includes Mark Hothersall, Head of Business Development and Carl Gatt Baldacchino, Head of Account Management, both previously from Evolution Gaming.
They are responsible for driving forward the commercial success of SlotMatrix by accelerating the unit’s in-house games development, continually strengthening its third-party content offering and ensuring SlotMatrix provides exceptional customer service.
Ebbe Groes, Group CEO & Co-Founder EveryMatrix, said: “Today is very significant for the Group highlighting both just how much of a ‘must-have’ product SlotMatrix is for tier-1 brands across multiple markets and how far ahead it is compared to its rivals.
“We’re thrilled such a world-renowned brand such as bet365 has put their faith in us to drive their content strategy. SlotMatrix has truly come of age and, with an increased focus on ramping up our own games development and attracting even more premium vendors to the platform there really is no ceiling as to how far it can go.”
A bet365 spokesperson, added: “We are thrilled to partner with EveryMatrix. This collaboration represents a significant step forward in our commitment to providing exceptional products to our customers.”
The post EveryMatrix signs largest ever content aggregation deal with bet365 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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