Monthly Archives: February 2017

Moroccan gambling monopolies celebrate strong 2016

Morocco’s gambling monopolies reported solid financial gains in 2016, continuing a hot streak that has seen the market grow more than one-third since 2013.

On Thursday, Casablanca-based economic daily La Vie Écho reported that Morocco’s gambling industry – not including its seven brick-and-mortar casinos – saw total betting turnover rise 6.65% to MAD 9.4b (US $941m) in 2016. The sum represents a 36% increase in gambling spending since 2013 in this northwest African nation of around 34m people.

The dominant betting activity in Morocco is at the racetrack, where the Royal Society for Horse Encouragement (SOREC) enjoys a betting monopoly. SOREC, which operates 28 branches and has an additional 540 points of sale via commercial partnerships, reported betting turnover rising 3% last year to MAD 6.4b, giving it a 70% share of the non-casino gambling market. SOREC launched a mobile data app in 2016 to keep punters informed on all Moroccan and French racing info and to push promotional offers.

Sports betting and instant lotteries are the sole responsibility of Moroccan Games and Sports (MDJS), which reported turnover up nearly one-fifth to MAD 2.2b in 2016, while turnover growth in this sector has risen 57% since 2013. MDJS’ online sales accounted for only a small fraction of its turnover but online growth (25%) outpaced overall growth.

France’s online poker cash games post rare gains in December

France’s online gambling market remained driven by sports betting in Q4 2016, while poker’s decline slowed but failed to stop.

Figures released Thursday by French gaming regulator ARJEL show online sports betting turnover hitting €532m in the three months ending December 31, an 18% improvement over Q4 2015 and the second highest total (after Q2 2016) since the regulated market launched in 2010.

Sports betting revenue jumped 9% in Q4 to €89m while the number of weekly active bettors gained 14% to 275k. For 2016 as a whole, betting handle shot up 44.5% to €2.08b while revenue gained 29% to €349m, reflecting the impact of the Euro 2016 football tournament and the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

Horserace betting handle continued to decline in Q4, falling 7% to €246m, while race betting revenue slipped €5m to €62m. Racing stakeholders grasping for positives will point to the fact that the handle decline improved from -12% and -11% in Q2 and Q3 2016, respectively. For the year, race handle was down 9% to €924m and revenue fell 8% to €234m.