FRENCH MODEL issue 33_Jerkins feature.qxd 04/03/2011 11:25 Page 2
FRENCH RACING
supervision of the organisation, which since May 2009 has been under the direction of Philippe Germond. Until last June, the PMU (racing only) and Française Des Jeux (lottery) held a betting monopoly in France, a control that had been in place since 1539 following an edict passed by King François I. As a result, this ensured that France's successive
governments have maintained a strict control on gaming. This policy first came into question by the European Commission in 2007. As it stands now, gambling on racing is still on a pari-mutuel basis in a bid to safeguard its revenue streams, both from the PMU and other licensed companies, policed by the nation's Online Games Regulation
Authority, ARJEL. These outside corporations are subject to an eight percent levy. For the first time, online sports betting is now available, on a fixed-odds basis. In 2009, the PMU recorded a turnover of €9.3 billion, its last full year’s trading before the change. From this figure (see table on page), 74.8% was returned to gamblers with another 1.7% going towards social levies.
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