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2022 Football World Cup and sports betting: the ANJ presents the results of the competition

Published

3 years ago

February 3, 2023

Reading Time: 6 minutes

As expected, the Football World Cup was a highlight in the 2022 sports betting calendar, with online stakes breaking records. This economic result confirms the real craze for sports betting, which is, for many gamblers, an inseparable practice from football. As far as advertising is concerned, the content has become more normalized, and the commitments made by the operators to reduce advertising pressure have generally been respected. Nevertheless, the massive recourse to programme sponsorship and influence are points of vigilance for the regulator and answers will have to be provided in the near future.

Economic results: a major World Cup, but in the context of a global slowdown in the growth of the online sports betting market in 2022

The Football World Cup has recorded several records for online sports betting:

– €597 million in stakes and €70 million in GGPs (Gross Gaming Revenue), a record performance for a competition of this scale. Stakes were 56% higher than for the 2018 World Cup and 37% higher than for the Euro, which was held in 2021 but featured fewer matches. The results recorded in FDJ sales outlets will be communicated in mid-February. Nevertheless, it can be estimated that the total amount of bets recorded online and in sales outlets could exceed €900 million.

– With €51 million in stakes placed, the France / Argentina final is the match that holds the record for bets, dethroning the 2018 France / Croatia final (€38million).

However, this result should be seen in a more global context of slowing down the growth of online sports betting in 2022. In fact, in 2022, the online sports betting segment saw a 2.5% growth in GGR, compared to 44% in 2021 and 7% in 2020, marked by Covid. Stakes on the 2022 World Cup represent 7.2% of total stakes placed in 2022, compared with 10% in 2018. Two explanations for this drop in the weight of stakes associated with the World Cup can be put forward: on the one hand, the number of players who opened an account during the World Cup was greater in 2018 than in 2022. Their weight in the total number of player accounts opened has therefore decreased. On the other hand, it seems that players who were already active before the World Cup have spread their bets more throughout the year and are diversifying them to other football competitions and sports, such as basketball.

Profile of players and betting practices: more women and 18-24 year olds among new bettors

– 177,000 new gamblers created an account during the competition. This is less than in 2018 (232,000 accounts opened);

– A more feminine pool of players: twice as many women aged 18-24 were recruited than during a normal period of activity, i.e. outside a major sporting and popular event;

– 54 million bets were placed, more than double the number in 2018;

– While players bet more than in 2018, the amount of unit bets was €11, which is slightly lower than the amount of unit bets seen in 2018;

– The average stake placed during the entire competition remained stable compared to that observed during the 2018 World Cup, at €234;

– 2.6 million player accounts placed a bet during the competition (players have an average of 1.2 accounts). This represents 2.2 million unique players;

– 70% of these accounts were negative, 23% were positive and 6% were balanced; only 1% won more than 10 times their stake.

– The 18-24 year olds represent 53% of new players, which is higher than in a normal period of activity.

It is still too early to assess the effects of competition on loss of control and addiction. An ANJ/OFDT (Observatoire Français des Drogues et des Tendances Addictives) study project will make it possible to observe this phenomenon over the medium and long term on new and regular players.

Preventive campaigns

For the first time, several prevention campaigns were conducted by public institutions before and during a major sporting event. These three campaigns, launched by Santé publique France, the Seine-Saint-Denis General Council and the ANJ, raised awareness among the general public of the risks of problem gambling and excessive gambling, using different approaches. The ANJ campaign “T’as vu, t’as perdu” (You saw, you lost) was aimed at sports bettors by mobilising their media and their codes.

46% of French people said they had seen prevention campaigns during the World Cup and more than 7 out of 10 gamblers. 82% of them consider that these campaigns are useful and 47% think that there are not enough of them.

Assessment of the regulatory mechanism put in place for operators’ commercial communications: an action plan that has made it possible to change the tone and to contain advertising pressure

After noticing an unprecedented advertising pressure in favour of sports betting during the Euro football tournament in 2021, the ANJ launched an ambitious action plan to “de-intensify” the advertising pressure on all communication media (television, radio, billboards and digital) and to reinforce the protection of minors and at-risk audiences, particularly on digital levers.

This two-part plan included guidelines for advertising content and financial incentives on the one hand, and recommendations for reducing advertising pressure across all media channels and moderating bonus offers on the other, in order to better protect vulnerable audiences.

In order to demonstrate their willingness to apply the recommendations of the ANJ, all the actors of the ecosystem – advertising agencies, audiovisual professionals and gambling operators – signed in November 2022 four commitment charters to moderate advertising pressure and promote responsible commercial communications in television, radio, billboards and digital. The World Cup was the first major event to test the effectiveness of the commitments made.

As regards the content of the advertisements, a change in tone was observed. There is less emphasis on external signs of wealth or false beliefs about the possibility of changing social status through sports betting and less blatant targeting of young people from working class neighbourhoods. According to a study carried out by Toluna – Harris Interactive for the ANJ, sports betting advertisements are considered as “slightly less disturbing and aggressive” than during Euro 2021;
The commitments made in TV, radio and billboards were generally respected and made it possible to contain the pressure on traditional media;
The pressure on the digital world seems to be slightly less important than during the Euro, but this point needs to be confirmed on the basis of the figures expected in February;
The transparency of financial incentives (welcome and loyalty bonuses) has improved. In addition, the €100 limit on the welcome bonus recommended by the ANJ was generally applied by sports betting operators.

Lastly, the ANJ carried out an audit of the four main sports betting operators in order to ensure compliance with the commitments they have made. The checks are in progress.

A need to go further

There are still points of vigilance insofar as the ANJ has noted that some operators are using circumvention strategies with massive recourse to sponsorship of sports programmes and influence, which are particularly invasive and popular with young people. During the World Cup, around 100 influencers were mobilised to promote sports betting, mainly on Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. 80% of the influencers’ audience is under 34 years old and 50% under 25 years old.

The working group on sponsorship initiated by the ANJ in July 2022 will deliver its conclusions and proposals in March; they will focus in particular on jersey partnerships, competition naming, but also programme sponsorship on radio, television or streaming sites.

The ANJ is also actively participating in the various initiatives of the public authorities aiming to better regulate the use of influence.

Finally, although advertising pressure was contained during the World Cup, it remains at a high level, particularly on television, billboards and social networks. The study carried out by Toluna – Harris Interactive indicates that 49% of people who saw sports betting advertisements during the World Cup believe that “there are too many” (compared to 54% during the Euro). 88% of those who saw the ads said they saw them on TV and 54% on social networks, with the proportion rising quite logically to 79% among the under-35 years old.

The review by the ANJ Board in February 2023 of the promotional strategies of gambling operators aims to assess the regulation of advertising in 2022 and to provide new answers to the marketing ambitions of the operators, in particular concerning their important presence on social networks which are very popular with young people and excessive gamblers, the massive use of influence and sponsoring

For Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, Chairwoman of the ANJ: “The regulatory mechanism set up by the ANJ in the run-up to the World Cup made it possible, with the tools at its disposal, to contain advertising pressure, and the operators generally played along. Nevertheless, this pressure remains strong and concerns the regulator, in a context where the latest OFDT studies show an increase in excessive gambling. The ANJ is therefore considering additional measures that it will propose to the public authorities in the coming months to strengthen the supervision of gambling advertising.”

Latest News

Loud Launches, Quiet Exits Why Partner Culture Outlasts Partner Acquisition

Published

10 hours ago

June 5, 2026

Wladimir P.

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London is a city built on institutions that never needed to announce themselves. The law firms on Chancery Lane, the private clubs in St. James’s they endure not through attention, but through trust accumulated over decades. Quietly. Consistently. Without a rebrand every two years. Which makes London an interesting backdrop for the affiliate industry’s annual conversation with itself. Because iGaming, by contrast, has mastered the art of attention.Conference floors are fluent in volume: oversized visuals, stacked merchandise, account managers with pitch decks and a practiced sense of urgency. Every programme is premium. Every stand is exclusive. What it rarely produces is what the spreadsheet actually needs: long-term ROI, partner retention, relationships worth more in year three than month one.

The Market Learned to Perform Premium. It Forgot to Practice It.

When an entire market adopts the same vocabulary premium, VIP, exclusive, top-tier the signal stops carrying information. The gifting mechanics follow the same logic: items chosen for the photograph rather than the relationship. With this approach the partner is the audience, not the counterpart.

The structural problem is this: markets that compete on noise attract partners who respond to noise, and lose them the moment a louder offer comes along. Attention is not loyalty. Activation is not retention.

High-performing affiliate partnerships share a different architecture: predictability over promises, honest communication over promotional language, consistency whether a relationship is new or years old. Strong partners don’t leave for marginal CPA improvements when the relationship itself has value they’d be giving up. That dynamic reduces churn, extends LTV, and compounds over time in ways no single activation can replicate.

Manor as Model: The Economics of Restraint

PlayamoPartners’ presence at iGB London stand H-60, 1–2 July operates on this logic. The Manor concept takes the British manor as its central metaphor: not a venue, but a model of relationships. There is an etiquette, a code, standards that everyone inside understands. Membership implies alignment.

The aesthetic is restraint. The underlying logic is economic. Trust, in this industry, has a measurable ROI that most programmes never stop to calculate because they’re too busy announcing it.

The Code of Honor: Giving the Industry Its Memory Back

At the centre of the Manor experience is a physical book not a lookbook or catalogue, but a Code of Honor: partner feedback, written by partners themselves, accumulated across events and years. A physical record implies that what partners say is worth keeping in a form that persists that the relationship has a history worth preserving.

The iGaming industry has become extremely efficient at forgetting. Campaigns replace campaigns. Account managers cycle through. Programmes pivot quarterly. The Code of Honor is a deliberate counter to that tendency. It treats reputation not as a marketing asset but as something that grows through repeated honest interaction. An archive of trust, built over time.

Recognition Over Raffle

Partners who contribute to the Code of Honor become eligible for recognition items including a MacBook Neo 13, iPhone Air, and iPad Air. Come by on 02.07 at 14 o’clock and collect your prize.

The framing matters. These are not raffle prizes. Recognition is relational: you are who you are, and that is acknowledged. One is a CPA model applied to gifting. The other is how relationships between people who respect each other actually function.

The partners the Manor is designed for are not the ones who show up for a giveaway they’re the ones who show up to engage, to leave something of their own behind, to participate in the ongoing record of what this programme is.

Continuity of Standards

This approach isn’t new for PlayamoPartners. Past recognition has included Samsonite, Hugo Boss, TAG Heuer, Cartier, YSL. At iGB London, partners at H-60 will find Cartier wallets and MacBooks among the acknowledgements.

Premium gifting delivered consistently, to partners aligned with programme standards, across multiple years and conferences, reads differently from a one-time budget line. It signals a stable set of values with no particular need for an audience.

What Remains After the Conference Floor Clears

Rates, tools, tracking platforms are table stakes. Any serious programme can match them within a quarter. What cannot be quickly replicated is culture: honest communication, payments that arrive without chasing, account managers who know your business well enough to have an opinion about it.

Manor of PlayamoPartners arrives at iGB London not as an activation, but as a position. Behind it: a system, a reputation, a code of conduct that predates this event and will outlast it.

Stand H-60 | 1–2 July | iGB London

Contact the team:

Edgar @Nertevics — CEO, PlayamoPartners
Slava @AMOSLAVA — Affiliate Manager Team Lead
Anna @anna20bet — Affiliate Manager
Andrey @Andrey_playamo — Affiliate Manager
Barbara @BarbaraPlayamoPartners — Affiliate Manager

The post Loud Launches, Quiet Exits Why Partner Culture Outlasts Partner Acquisition appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Asia

PhilWeb Showcases Technology-Driven Growth Vision at SiGMA Asia 2026

Published

10 hours ago

June 5, 2026

Wladimir P.

philweb-showcases-technology-driven-growth-vision-at-sigma-asia-2026

PhilWeb Corporation has reinforced its position as a technology-driven company at SiGMA Asia 2026, highlighting its continuing transformation through digital innovation, scalable platform solutions and strategic technology investments aligned with the rapidly evolving digital economy in Asia.

As one of the Philippines’ established technology and platform providers, PhilWeb participated in SiGMA Asia 2026 to showcase its long-term vision centered on digital infrastructure, operational scalability, customer engagement technologies and future-ready platform development. The company’s presence at the international event reflects its broader strategy of strengthening its role within the growing technology, digital entertainment and fintech ecosystem in the region.

With more than 25 years of operational experience, PhilWeb continues to evolve alongside changing market demands and technological advancements. Over the years, the company has steadily expanded its capabilities through investments in platform modernization, integrated digital systems, payment technologies and data-driven operational tools designed to support scalable and efficient business operations.

As industries across Asia continue to undergo digital transformation, PhilWeb sees increasing opportunities in technology-enabled ecosystems where connectivity, automation, customer experience and operational efficiency play increasingly important roles in long-term business growth.

At SiGMA Asia 2026, the company highlighted initiatives focused on strengthening its digital ecosystem through improved platform capabilities, enhanced payment integration infrastructure and technology solutions designed to support seamless experiences across both physical and digital customer environments.

PhilWeb also emphasised the growing importance of integrated platforms and scalable digital operations as consumer behaviour continues to shift toward more connected and technology-driven experiences. The company continues to adapt to these evolving trends by exploring innovations that improve accessibility, operational flexibility and customer engagement.

Participation at SiGMA Asia 2026 also provided PhilWeb with opportunities to engage with international technology firms, fintech companies, digital infrastructure providers, payment solutions companies and regional business partners as it continues to strengthen its long-term growth strategy.

Beyond technology expansion, PhilWeb continues to prioritise governance, compliance-driven systems, operational transparency and sustainable business.

The post PhilWeb Showcases Technology-Driven Growth Vision at SiGMA Asia 2026 appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

Balkans

Strong Customer Response Marks Successful Belgrade Future Gaming 2026 for NOVOMATIC

Published

10 hours ago

June 5, 2026

Wladimir P.

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NOVOMATIC concluded a highly successful participation at Belgrade Future Gaming 2026, further reinforcing its strong presence in the Southeast European market. Throughout the exhibition, the company welcomed a steady stream of visitors to its stand, providing an excellent platform for strengthening existing partnerships, establishing new business contacts and discussing future opportunities with customers from across the region.

The comprehensive product showcase featured a broad selection of NOVOMATIC’s latest gaming innovations. Among the highlights were Impera PROLINK 2 and the internationally successful XTENSION LINK series, including Volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5 as well as XTENSION LINK Ultimate, all of which attracted strong interest from visitors thanks to their proven performance and engaging feature mechanics. Visitors also explored VISION LINK, NOVOMATIC’s latest multi-feature linked progressive concept, alongside the versatile GAMINATOR X5, renowned for its flexible game mix and customization options.

A particular highlight for the regional market was the Impera Line HD Edition 10 – Balkan Special, which generated significant interest thanks to its carefully selected game mix tailored specifically to local player preferences.

Taking center stage was the award-winning DIAMOND X QUATTRO 1.55J, whose striking design and immersive player experience made it a standout attraction on the show floor. The portfolio was further complemented by a premium V.I.P. X setup, including the V.I.P. X Royal 1.85 and, for the first time at a Balkan trade show, the V.I.P. X Galaxy 2.65, both showcasing NOVOMATIC’s commitment to delivering high-end gaming experiences for modern casino environments.

As in previous years, NOVOMATIC’s successful cooperation with long-standing partner FAZI contributed to a strong exhibition presence, while the popular ADMIRAL Bet Pub catering concept once again provided a welcoming atmosphere that encouraged networking and business discussions in a relaxed setting.

“The positive response we received throughout the show was truly outstanding. Belgrade Future Gaming remains one of the most important industry events in Southeast Europe and provides an excellent opportunity to engage directly with our customers and partners. We were delighted by the strong interest in our product portfolio, particularly the Impera Line HD Edition 10 – Balkan Special and the first presentation of the V.I.P. X Galaxy 2.65 in the region. The many valuable conversations and promising business opportunities generated during the event once again demonstrated the strength of the Balkan market and the value of close collaboration with our customers. I would like to sincerely thank all visitors, customers, partners, and our dedicated team for contributing to another successful edition of Belgrade Future Gaming,” said Miloš Pejić, Regional Manager SEE at NOVOMATIC.

With a comprehensive portfolio of internationally proven products, regionally tailored solutions and premium gaming innovations, NOVOMATIC once again demonstrated its ability to meet the diverse requirements of the Balkan market. The successful outcome of Belgrade Future Gaming 2026 further highlighted the company’s strong momentum across Southeast Europe and created a solid basis for future growth and collaboration with customers and partners throughout the region.

The post Strong Customer Response Marks Successful Belgrade Future Gaming 2026 for NOVOMATIC appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.