It is widely believed that the sport of kings is the best in all of Europe.<\/p>\n
The industry has been rich in tradition since Joseph Oller, who was also co-founder of the Moulin-Rouge, invented pari-mutual betting in 1891. Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) was created in 1930 and has controlled wagering since, both on and off the track.<\/p>\n
The main issue is authorities wanted to install betting devices in more than 100 locations throughout the area in a test program. They had agreed to let Fran\u00e7aise Des Jeux (FDJ), a state-owned lottery and sports betting company, be the operators.<\/p>\n
If the machines were allowed, officials with PMU argued the control they had would be decimated and there would be a significant drop in revenue.<\/p>\n
They already saw a drop in money. Last year \u20ac924 million was bet and forecasts are that there could be a decline, as there has been the last 15 quarters.<\/p>\n
So when the pilot program of betting machines was announced it was not well received by the PMU. They fought it saying that it would be disastrous for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going through a rough patch but that could lead to the establishment of a full and comprehensive gaming policy in France,\u201d said Olivier Delloye, director general of France Galop.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nFear turned to outrage when it was learned that FDJ had ordered 18,000 units, confident the program would become permanent.<\/p>\n
Fortunately the protest seemed to have work for now as the government announced the April venture had been suspended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anger has been simmering in France over issues related to gambling for more than a year and Wednesday it came to a boil as more than 2,000 people took to the streets to protest potential changes to the horse racing industry. The demonstrators were made up of mostly thoroughbred and trotting employees and assembled in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60,61,16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
French Protest over Proposed Changes to Horse Racing Betting<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n