France wants to privatise the lottery

The Minister of Action and Public Accounts confirmed on Thursday that the government wants to privatise part of the FDJ.

France.- Gérald Darmanin, Minister of Action and Public Accounts, revealed yesterday that the government wants to privatise the Francaise des Jeux (FDJ). The state currently holds 72 per cent of FDJ and wants to sell at least a part of it whilst still maintaining control.

“We are thinking about opening the capital of the FDJ while maintaining the monopoly,” said Darmanin. The French State holds 72 per cent of the FDJ, whilst the rest of the capital is held by small shareholders, such as the “Gueules cassés”, an association of veterans with 9.2 per cent, or the employees of the company (5 per cent).

The state also enjoys the monopoly on lottery games and scratch games, and it appears that it intends to keep it that way because at least 3.1 billion of the 14.3 billion euros spent by players ended up in the coffers of the state.

The government is therefore considering a solution that will allow it to retain the vast majority of its revenues while bringing in fresh money. It would first allow to go below the symbolic threshold of 50 per cent of capital whilst keeping control of the company through the system of double voting rights. The state would recover between 1 to 1.5 billion euros, half of FDJ’s worth.