The volume of bets during the competition could vary greatly depending on the course of the France team, warn observers.
The numbers give the spin. Over the four weeks of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which starts on Sunday, around 500 million euros could be bet online on sports betting sites and apps in France. “The estimate is around 500 million euros of uploads but it depends a lot on the course of the French team“, we explain to the National Gaming Authority (ANJ).
In all scenarios, the progression compared to the last major football competitions – during which the stakes traditionally soar – promises to be significant. If half a billion euros in online bets were to be reached, it would be 15% more than during Euro 2021, which generated 435 million stakes, and 37% more than during the previous World Cup in 2018 (366 million euros), which saw France go all the way and win their second star.
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This year the competition “takes place during a particularly attractive commercial period, between Black Friday and the end of the year holidays”notes the ANJ to 60 Million consumers. Taking into account bets at physical points of sale, “operators hope to exceed one billion euros in stakes“, says Lionel Maugain, journalist at 60 Million consumers and author of a recent survey on the subject. They had reached a total of nearly 700 million euros at the 2018 World Cup. Contacted, Betclic like Winamax refuse to give estimates, claiming that this is “too complicated“.
This probable increase in betting on the 2022 World Cup reflects the continued growth of the online sports betting sector since its authorization in 2010 in France, and in which football takes the lion’s share. He “has experienced tremendous growth in recent years“, we say to the ANJ. “This activity represented revenue of 1.3 billion euros in 2021, an increase of 44% over one year», Specifies the regulatory authority.
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More than a third of French people will bet
The HelloSafe financial product comparison platform also tried to estimate the volume of bets for this World Cup. His study, based onthe reports of the National Gaming Authority (ANJ), Public Health France, the Française des Jeux as well as the figures made public by online sports operators over the past 10 years“, leads to figures roughly similar to those of the ANJ. “Total stakes could range from 455 to almost 502 million euros, depending on the results of the French team in the competition“, points HelloSafe. An increase of between 4.6% and 15.3% compared to Euro 2020, she says.
Proof that sports betting has become more democratic, more than a third of French people (36%) say they intend to bet money on World Cup matches (against 31% for Euro 2021), according to a survey Harris Interactive for the ANJ appeared this week. Among them, 70% plan to bet on sports betting sites and applications, and 66% at points of sale. A practice “more widespread among men, people aged under 50 and from working classes“says the study.
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For the sports betting sector, the World Cup is therefore THE big event of the year. According to HelloSafe’s estimates, bets on the 2022 World Cup alone should represent “between 10 and 12% of total football stakes in 2022in France, andbetween 5 and 6% of total online sports betting stakes over the same year“.
More than 250 million euros of investments in advertising
The operators – Betclic, Winamax, the FDJ, PMU, Unibet to name only the biggest – have understood this well and have planned to multiply the advertisements during the competition. According to the ANJ, quoted by 60 Million consumers“planned advertising investments will exceed 255 million eurosin 2022, an increase of 7% compared to 2021, which was already a record year. Advertising messages will focuson social networks, and will mainly target the youngest, by calling on influencers“, adds Lionel Maugain, who also wishes to alert on”the dangers of sports betting“.
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If the journalist warns that the general public “will be overrun with ads» for sports betting on the occasion of the World Cup, the operators have recently undertaken to precisely limit advertising pressure. They all signed a charter last week, under the aegis of the ANJ, for a “responsible digital advertising“. Its main objective is tobetter control the commercial communications of operators“published on the web, “as well as those of influencers and ambassadors“.
The platforms have also committed to “protect minors from advertisements» on online sports betting and «not to exert advertising pressure on vulnerable audiences, in particular young people and excessive gamers“. Another charter, relating to display, aims to exclude advertisements for sports betting from spaces “in the immediate vicinity of schools and addictology care structures» and to «limit visual advertising pressure» in train and metro stations. Even so, it should be hard to miss the sports betting ads in the next four weeks.