The Commission’s investigation
FDJ is a French leading gambling operator and the second largest lottery operator in Europe. In 2019, France privatised FDJ and reformed the regulation of gambling. The reform included securing the exclusive rights of FDJ for a period of 25 years for the operation of offline and online lottery games and the operation of offline sports betting.
In 2020, the Commission received two identical complaints, claiming that FDJ benefits from State aid, including the granting of exclusive rights for a period of 25 years (2019-2044) against an insufficient remuneration of €380 million, or €15.2 million/year.
In July 2021, the Commission initiated an in-depth investigation, analysing in particular whether the remuneration of €380 million was in line with the market price or otherwise might have conferred an undue economic advantage on FDJ.
The in-depth investigation gave France and all interested parties the opportunity to comment on the measure in question.
The Commission’s assessment
The Commission has assessed the remuneration under EU State aid rules.
The Commission has examined whether the remuneration paid by FDJ for the modifications of its exclusive rights between 2019 and 2044 is market-conform or otherwise constitutes an advantage for FDJ.
France calculated the amount of the remuneration as a comparison of the estimated value of the exclusive rights before and after the 2019 reform. Following the discussions with the Commission, limited changes to the methodology’s parameters were made. According to these changes, the remuneration increased to €477 million from the initial amount of €380 million.
Following France’s commitment to increase the remuneration to be paid by FDJ to €477 million, the Commission concluded that the measure does not constitute aid.
On this basis, the Commission has cleared the French measure under EU State aid rules.
More information
The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case numbers SA.56399 and SA.56634 in the State aid register on the Commission’s competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of State aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the Competition Weekly e-News.
Source – EU Commission