Entry of UK sports betting giant into the market would provide a major boost to French online market market, at a point of inflection by severe tax challenges, reports Jake Pollard for SBC. 

Bet365 is set to launch in France in the coming months and go live in a market where it was active and popular during pre-regulated times, but decided against obtaining a licence after the country regulated online sports betting, poker and horse racing in 2010.

SBC-&-Gaming&Co has learnt that the UK group will launch in France before the start of the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America, the move coming as part of an expansion project that has seen Bet365 monitor the market closely for many years.

The company’s move however is not that surprising. It has been monitoring the market for many years, notably in relation to potential online casino regulation, and was also present at the roundtable held by the French government in Nov24 that debated the topic.

Despite France’s high taxes on GGR at nearly 70% and the 15% tax on operators’ advertising spend that came into force in July, one industry contact said they thought the group “had strong intentions” in the market and will invest the necessary budgets to boost its profile and market share.

This activity would be additional to Bet365’s global sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League that runs until 2027. In addition, being licensed in France would enable it to promote its brand name in French stadiums during UCL matches, where currently it advertises its Follow Scores live score brand to make up for not being able to promote its flagship name.

Another contact said that “because of the high tax rates” it was open to question whether Bet365 would “invest major advertising budgets” and could, instead, leverage its strong brand name among punters to generate traffic.

Nonetheless, the contact added that “history has shown that having competitors vying with each other over product quality (as has been the case between Winamax and Betclic in recent years) drives the market upward”.

Bet365 always in the spotlight 

At a corporate level, a launch in France would extend Bet365’s growth narrative and its reach into a further  high profile regulated market, where it could display its bookmaking knowhow and build up its profile with a view to a sale. 

The group’s financial firepower also gives it time, a precious commodity, to promote its products and cope with losses, especially in the early years of activity. It did this when it started out in Australia and more recently in the US, where it is now active in 14 states and, as Steve Ruddock wrote in his newsletter Straight to the Point in August, “is on par with ESPN Bet nationally” and is active “in the key market of New York”.

It also acquired its office premises in Denver, Colorado, “a clear signal that it intends to compete in the US” as part of “a patient yet accelerating strategy, as it’s gone from a measured toe-dip in the US to aggressive expansion”, added Ruddock, while its promo-to-NGR ratio is much better than most of its peers. Bet365 recorded a 9% YoY rise in revenues to £3.7bn for the 12-month period to 31 March 2024 as US investments started paying off and prer-tax profits reached £626.6m vs. a £60.2m loss in 2023.

Changing make-up for French sports betting 

Bet365did not reply to G&Co’s enquiries and is understood to currently be working on certifying and obtaining its official sports betting licence for the market. France is a major European market for OSB and the vertical is the main driver of the country’s online gambling growth, but it is also heavily taxed and already highly competitive.

Market leaders Betlcic and Winamax are competing with FDJ’s Parions Sport and Unibet, while PMU is expected to soon revamp its OSB offering as part of its Pacte PMU 2030 project.

At the other end of the spectrum, brands like Betsson France, OlyBet and Feelingbet are fighting for share and were joined by DAZNBet this month, who will be hoping it can drive some of the streaming audiences of the DAZN OTT platform to its sports betting products.