FDJ reports strong results

72 percent State-owned French national lottery operator Française des Jeux (FdJ) has ended its year on a high, reporting turnover of Euro 11.4 Billion, an increase of 8.4 percent over 2010.

The firms’ strong performance is largely attributed to lottery, bolstering poor results from its online sports betting arm who recorded a decrease of 15 percent, and instant games continuing its downward trend with sales falling by 8 percent compared to 2010.

In related news, FdJ’s monopoly was confirmed with two recent rulings handed down by the highest administrative court in France; Conseil d’Etat based on a request for cancellation of two orders within the lotteries/gaming Acts of 1978 and 1985.

The action was brought before the court by StanleyBet who seeks to operate betting shops in France and Bwin.party digital wanting to operate online games in the French market.

Coming to its determination, the State Council cited a recent EU court ruling that said “to ensure a particularly high level of protection of consumers, gambling can be justified in considering that only the grant of exclusive rights to a single subject to tighten the control of public authorities is likely to help control the risks ‘and’ pursue an effective policy against excessive gambling.” (See previous report).

The State council also noted that FDJ’s promotion and advertising budget is capped at 1 percent of its revenue budget and limits the risk of addiction by setting a rate of return to players “at a level significantly lower than other gaming operators.”

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