FDJ posts 14% Q1 2022 revenue rise as lottery and sports betting delivers

FDJ has posted a 14% rise in Q1 2022 revenue (YoY) as its sports betting and lottery channels reported annual growth. The French operator recorded a Q1 2022 revenue of €613m (£509.8m), up from the €537.7m posted in Q1 2021. Of this total revenue, lottery represented €466.7m, up 14% from Q1 2021 when the vertical returned €409.4m. Sports betting accounted for €128.5m of total quarterly revenue, rising 13.4% YoY from €113.4m in 2021. Points of sale increased by 11.5% to €4.5bn while digital stakes remained flat at 1% growth. Digital bets accounted for more than 11% of total bets placed with FDJ during the period. In terms of stakes, lottery draws increased 9.5% to €1.5bn while instant games stakes also grew by 19% to €2.5bn. Despite the growth in sports betting revenue, the volume of stakes decreased in the vertical due to a lower player return rate, down 4.2% to 74.7% in the quarter. Sports betting stakes dropped by 5.2% overall. Stéphane Pallez, FDJ CEO, said: “The start of the year was marked by strong growth in all of our activities, across all sales channels. The strong growth in turnover from lottery and sports betting is thus driven both by our network of 30,000 points of sale and by solid online activity. “This good financial and extra-financial performance confirms our strategy of sustainable and profitable growth, and our outlook for 2022,” she added.