The french ministry of economy thinks again of privatizing “La Française des jeux” (FDJ), according to Liberation.

This is interesting considering that France is currently, under the pressure of EU, opening its gambling market (actually sport betting and poker) over the Internet BUT ensuring the monopolistic position of the existing companies, namely FDJ and PMU.
Indeed, they have already launched their own Internet betting products and they are over-advertising before the market opening… cutting the grass under the feet of their future opponents.

France ensures an exceptional position for the company and sells the goose that lays the golden egg… who will this deal profit to?

FDJ and PMU are big players of the french market with 9.2 billion € and 9.3 billion € gross gaming revenue in 2008; but only 220 M€ (2.3%) and 440 M€ (4.7%) over Internet.