15/04/2011, Online casino

According to the latest report of the French newspaper Le Figaro, the amount of money bet on the sports betting industry in France has dropped by 26.5% in the first quarter of 2011. Apparently one of the major reasons for the decline was the lack of any major sporting event this year.

The French newspaper Le Figaro, which analysed the statistics presented by the French regulator ARJEL, mentioned that the French market was only liberalized in May last year, so there is no point of comparison with the first quarter of 2010.

“This is a significant decrease, but this does not mean that sports betting will be down more than 20% this year,” said the ARJEL President Jean-Francois Vilotte.

However, while the sports betting industry suffered from dropping by 26.5%, the horse racing and online poker industry have grown to €241 million, and respectively €1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2011.

Bwin.party co-CEO Norbert Teufelberger commented on the situation: “The French government… admitted that they went too far with the sports betting taxation, and they believe that about 75% of the volume in France is still in the black market.”