France set to privatise lottery company-paper
PARIS, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The French government will privatise the national lottery company, La Francaise des Jeux, via a Bourse introduction next year, the Les Echos newspaper said in its Thursday edition.
La Francaise des Jeux runs many games, such as the standard Lotto lottery, Keno, Millionaire, scratch card games and the Euromillions European lottery, which last week had a record pay-out of 144 million euros.
It will lose its monopoly in line with other national gaming companies as the sector is opened to competition with private firms such as Camelot Group Plc LOTT.UL or Ladbrokes Plc (LAD.L).
The paper said the government was preparing a law proposal for the end of the year for a flotation in 2009. The PMU horse betting agencies are also losing their monopoly, but their legal structure is more complex for a state sale. (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
