At a press conference in Paris yesterday, France's Pari-Mutuel Urbain released its 2009 numbers, which report a modest increase to €9.3 billion

.

According to an article on racingpost.com, betting turnover (more than €9.3 billion) was up 0.4% from the previous year, but the €731 million that went back into racing was down by €6 million.

The report goes on to state that a total of 74.8% of turnover was returned to punters by way of dividend. The takeout from straight bets, win and place, was just 15%, a growing sector that counted for €2.9 billion of the total.

The breakdown of the numbers reveals that gamblers that took their action online wagered €661 million, which represented an increase of 22%. The rising online numbers come one year ahead of what is expected to be a bigger boom once the market is open to other licensed operators in early June.

"When you take into account the economic situation and the amount wagered with illegal operators, the PMU results were satisfactory in 2009," Philippe Germond, chairman and managing director of PMU was quoted as saying.

(With files from racingpost.com)