The French lottery will go public in November

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The French government advances with the sale of traditional business state assets to finance technology investment. The portal Expansion reports that the finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, confirmed the public sale offer (OPV) of at least half of the shares of its national lottery, Française des Jeux (FDJ), in November.

Sales of lottery shares increased 1% last year, but total bets rose 4% thanks to FDJ's monopoly on sports betting. The World Cup boosted the business in 2018.

Notre film "Origines" retraces l'histoire of FDJ, of the Loterie nationale in 1933 jusqu’à aujourd’hui: des jeux qui permettent aux joueurs de gagner de l’argent, mais aussi de soutenir des actions d’intérêt général. Et ça fait 85 ans that ça last. 👉 https://t.co/uJjNPko7FH pic.twitter.com/eV7s5WeK62

– FDJ® (@FDJ) August 19, 2019

Unlike the British lottery, the benefits of FDJ go directly to the French public coffers. The Czech betting group Sazka would be interested, already has participations in the Austrian and Italian lotteries and launched a takeover bid on the actions of the Greek operator in July. At 16 times the profit forecasts, FDJ would be worth 3,000 million euros.