• 06/06/2022
• By binternet
• 735 Views

The true winners of the lottery<

Strange place for a shareholders' meeting. On 11 November 2017, Emmanuel Macron revives the flame of the unknown soldier under the Arc de Triomphe, ninety-nine years after the armistice, which ended the fighting of "14-18". In front of him, a seven-year-old man with grey hair and at the bottom of his face with an imposing scar, a memory of the Algerian war. It's Henri Denys de Bonnaventure, the President of the broken faces. "our association is the first private shareholder of La Française des Jeux, with 9%," the former soldier explains to the young President. We'D like to know what's going to happen. Are we going to privatize the company? How will the dividend evolve? "his interlocutor, who represents the state, who owns 72% of the shares, is careful not to answer. A little further, another key figure observed the scene: Admiral Henri Lacaille, President of the Maginot Federation. In his hands, 4% of the French game.

A shareholder interview at a tribute to veterans. This wild General Assembly alone sums up the status resolutely separate from the French game. The operator of the lotto, EuroMillions, Illiko, etc., is certainly one of the companies controlled by the state, such as EDF or La Poste. But it keeps from its long history a handful of unexpected shareholders: several veterans' associations, a civil service mutual, a Federation of small traders, a listed SME, a family of Roanne, a few dozen former commercial agents … Together they hold 23 per cent of the capital, 28 per cent plus the shares of the staff.

They're the real winners of the lottery! Many now have only a distant historical connection with the French game. But dividends continue to flow into their bank accounts, which are more massive from year to year. Well managed, effectively exploiting its national monopoly on lottery games and off-Internet sports bets, La Française des Gaming continues the record exercises. As the PMU declines, its rival's sales are increasing by 4% to 5% per year, and profits are at the same time. The digital shift and the youth winback plan launched by President Stéphane Pallez should further accentuate the movement.

Blessed bread for the owners of the business. All the more so as the first of them, the state, is pushing it to be generous in terms of dividends. In 2016, La Française des Jeux drew on its reserves to distribute to its shareholders 229 million euros, more than the profits for the whole year!

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