The European country has found online poker to be highly lucrative during the COVID-19 lockdown
The online poker industry has received nothing but benefits since the coronavirus pandemic started, and US states that have legalized the activity have been able to continue to receive some revenue during the lockdown. Another country that reported great revenue coming from the online poker space was France, which saw a significant surge during the first quarter of this year. The French gambling regulator ARJEL reported combined revenue of $493.7 million during the first three months of the year, which is a 20%-22% increase compared to the same period last year. In addition to that, the active players' accounts increased by 17% when compared to the data from last year, which is nearly 2.6 million.
The overall numbers coming from gambling activities were, however, affected by the impact of the pandemic, and a sports betting decrease of 4% was reported - the first fall in nine years. On the other hand, online poker set more positive records and picking up an impressive revenue that spiked 44% year-on-year to $111 million. Online poker in France saw an increase in active players of 37% to 374,000. The revenue coming from cash games increased 25% to $31 million, but tournament revenue really hit it off with a 54% increase to $79.4 million. These positive results were accomplished even despite the fact that bonus offers decrease by 5% during this first quarter of the year.
At least through the initial months, and while the coronavirus pandemic loses more power, the figures for the second quarter might still rise. But there are already poker rooms across Europe opening their regulated markets again as the pandemic lockdowns start to be lifted; therefore, online poker might lose strength.
