The phenomenon has become inherent to major competitions.
And the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be no exception to the rule.
A major event of the sporting year, the Olympics will also be one of the highlights for bettors.
Here are some questions and their answers on the theme, always sensitive in high-level sport.
Will we be able to bet on all sports?
No.
It is the National Games Authority (ANJ), market regulator in France, which sets the sports and disciplines open to betting.
Its list, updated on March 1, lists the disciplines on which it will be possible to place a bet during the Games.
This will be the case, for example, for the majority of events, including fencing, judo, athletics and most team sports on the Paris 2024 program.
But others will be closed to punters, such as the additional sports of these Games (surfing, breaking, climbing and skateboarding), 3x3 basketball, diving, artistic swimming, gymnastics, dressage and eventing in horse riding, as well as than shooting.
“We have not yet had any requests from operators for these disciplines,” explains the ANJ, which will study potential additional requests on a case-by-case basis with a view to the Games.
Should we expect a strong influx of punters?
It all depends where you place the cursor.
For the main players in the market, the Games will fall short of the Euro football tournament, which will attract the majority of bets for the year 2024. A certainty, as the weight of the football in the world of sports betting is without equivalent.
In France, nearly a billion euros, including 597 million online, were bets on the 2022 World Cup matches alone. In 2021, the Euro generated 445 million bets on the Internet.
Compared to around 90 million for the Tokyo Olympics the same year, according to figures from the ANJ.
But Paris 2024 could exceed this figure.
“The fact that this is happening in France could cause an increase in the number of bets,” estimates Betclic, leader of the online market, which anticipates that French bettors should turn to sports such as football, basketball or handball.
“We think that several disciplines which bring together French standard athletes should arouse great enthusiasm among punters, such as football with Kylian Mbappé, basketball with Victor Wembanyama, but also rugby sevens with Antoine Dupont,” says a spokesperson for la Française des jeux (FDJ), partner of the event.
Also read “An incredible aura”: Antoine Dupont, a successful debut in rugby sevens before gold at the Paris Olympics?
Another point which will work in favor of these Games to attract bettors, the absence of time difference.
Where, for the Tokyo Games as for those of Rio in 2016, part of the events took place while it was dark in France.
Will operators invest in the Olympics?
Yes.
All operators plan to put 670 million euros (i.e. 14% more than in 2024) in advertising investments on the table.
30% of this sum must be spent on campaigns scheduled between May and July 2024, i.e. with a view to the Euro and the Olympics.
The ANJ asked, in a press release published in January, certain operators to “significantly moderate their promotional strategy in order not to exert excessive advertising pressure on all the different existing media supports, in particular during the period of Euro 2024 and that of the Paris Olympic Games.
“The holding of these two high-profile events risks significantly increasing exposure to gambling among the public, particularly minors and vulnerable people,” estimates the ANJ, in another published decision. at the end of January.
The operators, for their part, are highlighting their “responsible gaming” strategy.
“Each year, the FDJ group devotes 10% of its overall advertising budget to information campaigns on the prevention of excessive gambling and the prohibition of gambling by minors,” explains Française des jeux.
Which will also market in July a scratch game, “Objective gold”, linked to the Games.