Figures published by France’s igaming regulator ARJEL show that the French igaming sector recorded operating losses of €35m in 2013, a major drop on the 2012 losses of €85m caused in the main by operators’ marketing and advertising expenses.
The figures were part of ARJEL’s annual report published last week. They reveal that after four years of regulation, France’s igaming sector continues to struggle to find an equilibrium as it grapples with high taxes and a tough economic climate.
In his foreword, ARJEL president Charles Coppolani said that “international cooperation will be one of my priorities”.
Asked whether said “international cooperation” would mean ARJEL once again presenting an amendment proposal of the 2010 regulation to enable a sharing of EU poker liquidities or pushing for some coordination of taxation frameworks between Member States, ARJEL commented: “In France, (only) Parliament has this power (to amend the regulation). As you know, it exercised it recently (in December 2013) by rejecting this proposal. ARJEL took note of the reservations that were expressed and is studying the subject in order to make new proposals that are more in keeping with the spirit of the legislator. We are therefore currently studying the topic, having listened to the operators concerned.”
The Authority would not expand on the detail of the new proposals it would be making to the French government. However, with France having already rejected a change in the tax system from stakes to gross profits in the review clause of 2011 and last December for a European poker pool, it is difficult to envisage the new proposals that ARJEL makes mention of.
The breakdown of the operating losses also shows that online betting operators lost €23m in 2013, down from €40m in 2012 and horse racing pari mutuel sites lost €3m compared with €10m in 2012.
Poker sites however reduced their losses the most in the past 12 months, from €36m in 2012 to €9m in 2013, this was achieved through major cuts in marketing and advertising by the leading operators.
The figures also revealed the tax revenues generated by operators for the French treasury.
Sports betting generated €160m in gross profits in 2013, of which 53%, €79m, was collected by France’s Ministry of Finance in taxes on stakes.
Horse racing pari mutuel sites had gross profits of €246m, of which 69%, €156m, was collected in taxes. Finally, online poker generated €258m in gross profits, of which 37%, €86m, went to the French taxman.
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