Paris (AFP)

Veterans, a Marseille SME, a mutual of officials: alongside the State, small historical shareholders of the French Games with an eclectic profile share each year nearly 40 million euros in dividends.

The state alone holds 72% of the gaming operator's capital, and must fall to around 20% after the privatization.

FdJ employees hold 5% of the capital, and gaming dealers / distributors (Soficoma) are present at 3%. The remaining 20% ​​of the capital is held by seven historic shareholders, all former lottery "ticket issuers".

In 1933, at the launch of the National Lottery, various organizations embarked on a secondary market (but nevertheless official): they buy lottery tickets sold 100 francs, and sell them in "tenths" to offer a more affordable price and touch a larger number of players.

The first of these original shareholders, with 9.2% of the capital of the Française des Jeux, is the Union of Injured People of the Face and Head (UBFT) and its Foundation of the "Gueules cassées".

Initially dedicated to soldiers disfigured during the 1914-18 war, "the association is still alive today and provides assistance to soldiers injured in operations, gendarmes, firefighters, and police.The dividend of the FdJ, between 8 and 12 million euros gross per year, is our only resource, "said AFB Olivier Roussel, director of the UBFT.

About a thousand people a year benefit from direct social benefits, pensions, but also "allowances to access a retirement home, or a one-off payment to adapt a home." We also help the surviving spouses and widows of the pensioners. war, "he explains.

- expected status quo for dividends -

Beyond its "duty of remembrance", the association of the wounded of the Face and the Head also helps military hospitals to equip themselves and dedicates funds to research on the brain and cranio-maxillofacial traumatology. face.

At its side, with 4.2% of the capital, the Maginot Federation of Veterans brings together veterans of the Second World War, the Algerian War or more recent conflicts.

This association participates in "memory-like" actions, such as school trips to Verdun or the landing beaches, finances military hospitals and an Ehpad, and runs a discounted holiday center.

Some small shareholders of the FdJ still have a link with the gaming sector, such as the Comalo (Marseille lottery company, 0.6% of the capital), or Emissions Berger (0.4%), specialized company in gambling and gambling.

The tobacconists - who hold 2% of the capital through the confederation of tobacconists - are also involved in the distribution network of La Française des Jeux, a large part of the outlets being located in tobacco bars.

But other holders of securities today have a less obvious link with gambling, such as the Mutuelle du Trésor - that of officials of the Treasury, now integrated into the Masfip (Mutual Action public finance), which holds 1%, or a small family-run company in Marseille, IDSUD, which is at 2.62%.

IDSUD was initially specialized in foreign exchange but then diversified into renewable energies and travel. It receives on average 3 million euros in dividends each year, which "constitute the bulk" of its financial products, according to its accounts.

After the IPO, these historic shareholders will continue to receive dividends.

Their participation should not change either. Except for those who want to take the opportunity to strengthen their presence in capital.

The Union of Injured Face and Head wants to go from 9.2% to 10%, she told AFP.

© 2019 AFP