SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The decision comes late in the football season, but bookmakers view the block as a positive move that should help increase wagering volumes in Ligue 1 matches.
France national broadcasters and the country’s Ligue de Football Professionnel breathed collective sighs of relief at the end of last week when a Paris tribunal ordered VPN firms such as NordVPN, SurfShark and Proton to block access to up 200 sites that stream Ligue 1 and UEFA Champions League matches to French consumers.
Canal+ holds the TV rights for the UCL and DAZN for Ligue 1 in France and, despite both seasons being finished, or nearly in the case of the Champions League, will be hoping that the decision cuts the flow of viewers that access illegal streaming portals to watch French coverage of those events. The timing is notable, as French broadcasters anticipate record viewership for the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday, 31 May, as favourites Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) seek to end France’s 33-year wait for a European club champion.
French football low volume benefits EPL and Liga
As far as the country’s bookmakers are concerned, they will be hoping that the decision helps their Ligue 1 betting volumes, which they say have suffered from a lack of engagement linked to DAZN’s inability to get near its target of 1.5 million subscribers this year.
Online betting executives have previously commented that as a result Ligue 1 is hindered by not having the same media exposure as other European football leagues. As such, French punters have redirected their wagering towards Spain’s La Liga and the English Premier League. Figures from the Autorité Nationale des Jeux’s (ANJ) annual report appeared to confirm the trend, with Ligue 1 recording 9% of all stakes and La Liga and the EPL just behind, with both at 7% in 2024.
You gotta fight for your right to bet
Interestingly, ANJ revealed that at 9,5%, the Champion League recorded the highest share of stakes from French bettors in 2024. ANJ said the new ‘rolling league’ format of the Champions League “enabled more games” to be wagered on, but for some oversevers, the figure is also testament to the reach and esteem in which Canal+’s football coverage is held in France.
Football represented 60% of France’s €1.8bn GGR for online sports betting in 2024, with stakes on the ‘Beautiful Game’ totalling €5.6bn.
With operators required to pay 1% of the stakes placed on French football to LFP as part of their ‘right to bet’ payment, this means brands like Unibet, NetBet or Winamax will have recorded around €504m in stakes and their right to bet payment will have come to around €5m last year.
