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France – French Ministry delays roll-out of Française Des Jeux machine test

By - 3 April 2017

The French authorities have delayed moves to roll out test betting machines at over 100 venues owned by Française Des Jeux (FDJ), the state-owned lottery and sports betting company.

Michel Sapin and Christian Eckert, Minister of the Economy and Finance and Secretary of State for Budget confirmed the ‘suspension’ of the test following protests on the streets outside their offices.
More than 2,000 people protested outside the Ministry of Finance office in Paris over the potential changes to the horse racing industry. They were protesting a government decision to install betting devices in more than 100 locations as part of a test program. The sole operator would be Française Des Jeux. The company had already ordered 18,000 of the proposed betting machines.

Officials from Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) claim though that if the machines were allowed they would force a dangerous drop in revenue, which last year sunk to €924m and has been in decline for the last 15 quarters.

The statement from the Ministry of the Interior said: “The experimentation of event bets in the framework of the Olympia project planned at a hundred points of sale of the network of Française Des Jeux, has raised concerns about its impact on horse betting. That is why the Government has decided to suspend this experiment. This suspension is meant to offer Française Des Jeux, the PMU and other players in the sector, the time necessary for consultation on the conditions of this experiment and the shared evaluation methods of its results. In other words, an experimentation should be conducted jointly by the two operators, FDJ and PMU, in joint sales outlets.

Thibault Lamare, spokesman for Porte-parole du mouvement J.P.F.C, said: “The suspension simply says that we talk again, that we restore the balance.”

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