Francaise des Jeux to be privatised by the Government

The Minister of Action and Public Accounts made it loud and clear on Thursday that the government wants to privatise a part of Francaise des Jeux, the operator of France’s national lottery games.

In view of this, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of Action and Public Accounts, revealed yesterday that the government ought to privatise  Francaise des Jeux (FDJ).

While still maintaining a grip, the state which currently holds a 72 per cent of FDJ at present, is anticipating to sell at least a part of it.

In association, Darmanin stated: “We are thinking about opening the capital of the FDJ while maintaining the monopoly.”

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 seems that it intends to keep it that way because at least 3.1 billion of the 14.3 billion euros splurged by players ended up in the coffers of the state.

The government is, therefore, excogitating a solution that will allow it to retain the vast majority of its revenues while bringing in fresh money. It would initially 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.