EU Commission says French FDJ gambling provider hasn't received unfair state aid
31/10/2024 10:45
PARIS, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The European Commission said
on Thursday that what France's gambling provider Française des
Jeux (FDJ) FDJ.PA has to pay for its monopoly to operate
lottery games and sports betting is in line with competition
rules after some adjustments were made.
The commission's decision, which follows an in-depth state
aid investigation, confirms the legality of France's legislation
to privatise FDJ, including the company's exclusive rights to
provide for providing lottery games and offline sports betting
for 25 years.
The EU executive body received two complaints in 2020
claiming that FDJ benefited from unjustified state aid because
the amount of 380 million euros ($412.98 million), or 15.2
million euros a year, that the company had to pay was too low.
The EU said that as a result of its investigation, some
changes to the parameters of the calculation of the sum were
made which led to a new total remuneration of 477 million euros,
a sum in line with the bloc's rules.
($1 = 0.9201 euros)
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel;
Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
((tassilo.hummel@thomsonreuters.com ; Twitter handle:
@tassilo_hummel;))