French betting company (FDJ) has announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2024 and year-to-date. Overall, the revenue for the period ending September was €2.1 billion ($2.27 billion), an increase of 11.9% year-over-year and 5.8% year-over-year, with this quarter contributing €669 million, up 14.2% year-over-year and 8% year-over-year.
Revenue from points of sale, including France and Ireland, grew by 8.6%. Digital revenue saw a significant increase, up 39.3% year-over-year and 24.8% quarter-over-quarter, reaching €302 million.
In France, revenue totaled €1.9 billion by the end of September, up 8%, including FDJ's exclusive lottery and sports betting, as well as competitive online games. Revenue from French points of sale grew by 2.7%.
The like-for-like basis does not include contributions from Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) and Zeturf in 2024, and Sporting's B2C in 2023.
It is worth noting that FDJ first proposed acquiring Kindred in January this year and completed the acquisition in October.
FDJ Market Segments – Lottery
Looking at FDJ's lottery business, in the first nine months of 2024, revenue reached €1.5 billion, up 6.6% year-over-year; this indicates that the lottery business was minimally impacted by last year's acquisitions. This is also reflected in the operator's third-quarter performance, with lottery revenue of €495 million, up 10% year-over-year.
In terms of games, revenue from instant games grew by 7.8% over the nine months, partly due to the launches of Ticket d'Or and Maxi Black Jack in January and May respectively. Draw game revenue grew by 4.7% (excluding Amigo at 9.9%), partly due to the success of FDJ's EuroDreams product.
FDJ Market Segments – Sports Betting and Online Games
As of the end of September, revenue from sports betting and online games was €407 million, up 13.3% year-over-year and 5% year-over-year. This was likely influenced by the acquisition of online horse betting provider Zeturf in October 2023 and the sale of multiple verticals of its Sporting Solutions brand to Betsson in August, part of FDJ's post-Kindred acquisition divestitures.
Online business grew significantly year-over-year, up 28.4%; combined with performance in Ireland, the growth rate was even higher.
FDJ Department Classification – International and Payments and Services
This department includes revenue outside of France, which reached €190 million by the end of September, higher than the €108 million reported last year. Although the reported year-over-year change was minimal, it decreased by 3.4% year-over-year, while third-quarter revenue was €61 million, up 2.1% year-over-year.
PLI was acquired in November 2023, likely playing a significant role and possibly explaining why FDJ could not report year-over-year revenue changes for this department, as the brand was not operating under FDJ at this time last year.
Kindred Acquisition
In early October, reports indicated that FDJ had acquired 90.7% of Kindred's shares, a figure that had risen to 91.8% by the time the operator released its third-quarter report. This acquisition was announced earlier this year, initially announced in January with an expected value of €2.6 billion. After meeting the requirement to acquire over 90% of Kindred's shares, FDJ now plans to increase its stake to 100% after extending the tender period.
Regarding performance, FDJ's Chairman and CEO Stéphane Pallez stated: "FDJ continues to achieve robust financial and non-financial performance, allowing us to confirm the full-year growth and profitability trend. This performance is driven by the lottery, sports betting, and competitive online games, as well as all our distribution channels, including the continuously evolving points of sale network and the strong momentum of digital games.
"With the completion of the Kindred acquisition in early October, the group has also reached an important milestone in implementing its strategy, creating a diversified and balanced European champion enterprise for the benefit of all stakeholders."
