PARIS (Reuters) -The European Commission said on Thursday that what France’s gambling provider Française des Jeux (FDJ) 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.
Shares in the company edged up on the news and traded around 5% higher on the Paris stock exchange by 1100 GMT.
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)
