French lottery operator Française des Jeux (FDJ) reported a 14.0% year-on-year increase in revenue for the first quarter of its 2022 financial year following a 10.2% rise in total customer stakes.
Revenue for the three months through to 31 March was €613.0m (£509.8m/$664.0m), up from €537.7m in the opening quarter of the operator’s 2021 financial year.
Lottery remained by far FDJ’s primary source of revenue, with this area generating €466.7m in revenue during Q1, up 14.0% year-on-year, which FDJ was driven by a 15.3% rise in online lottery revenue.
Sports betting revenue also increased by 13.4% to €128.5m, despite a 5.2% decline in total stakes to €1.06bn, which FDJ was mainly due to unexpected sports results, particularly for football.
In terms of wider customer spending, total stakes for the entire business in Q1 amounted to €5.06bn, an increase of 10.2% from €4.59bn last year. Almost 80.0% of this attributed to lottery-based games, with total lottery stakes reaching €3.99bn, up 15.2% year-on-year.
Draw game stakes were up 9.5% to €1.47bn, due to the growth of the Amigo game, which successful launches and relaunches during the quarter – including Baraka, Cash and ‘3 in 1’ in March, drove instant game stake up 19.0% to €2.52bn.
In terms of how customers were gambling with FDJ, the operator said it benefited from the return to traditional operations following the disruption caused by novel coronavirus (Covid-19) measures in France during Q1 of last year. This led to almost 10% of its retail network closing.
However, with retail operations now back to normal, this allowed point-of-sale stakes to rise by 11.5% to €4.48bn, with FDJ noting this was also helped by a series of marketing and sales initiatives.
Looking to online and total internet stakes for the quarter reached €575.0m, a rise of 1.0% in light of what FDJ described as an “extremely high comparison base” in Q1 of last year. This rise meant online stakes accounted for more than 11% of total stakes in the quarter.
FDJ did not disclose further financial details for the quarter.
Meanwhile, FDJ also announced that for the fourth year in a row, FDJ was awarded the A1+ Sustainability Rating by Moody’s ESG Solutions, a provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) assessments and data.
FDJ ranked 15th out of nearly 5,000 companies worldwide monitored by Moody’s ESG Solutions. In the hotels, leisure and services sector, composed of 45 international companies, which includes gambling players, FDJ ranked first.
“The start of the year was marked by strong growth in all our business lines, across all sales channels,” FDJ chairwoman and chief executive Stéphane Pallez said. “The strong growth in lottery and sports betting revenues was driven by our network of 30,000 retail outlets and a solid online activity.
“We are also very proud of Moody’s ESG Solutions’ A1+ sustainability rating awarded to FDJ for the fourth year in a row. This good financial and extra-financial performance underpins our strategy of sustainable and profitable growth, and our outlook for 2022.”
The Q1 publication comes after FDJ this month also unveiled a new information campaign with the aim of promoting more sustainable gaming. The new campaign consists of new information on responsible and recreational gambling, intended to prevent harm.
