It's time for the French authorities to stop playing silly games - end the Monopoly!

French Racing / La Casaque Noire / 29 October 2007 / Leave a Comment

An end is in sight to this arcane system, says La Casaque Noire

Quelle surprise! The French are hopping mad about Brussels telling them what to do. As with all things European, all is hunky-dory while the open palms are receiving. Most of the European law was cobbled together by the French - witness the abomination which is the Common Agricultural Policy - pure and simply a subsidy for inefficient French farmers.

Now the government has been ordered to change their 19th century laws which prevent anyone else from acting as a bookmaker except the government appointed monopoly - the Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU). It also forbids non-residents to have PMU accounts, so anyone living outside of France wanting to have a bet has to be creative or simply find an "illegal". One such (illegal) bookmaker had their chief executive arrested in Holland this week (at the request of the French authorities) leaving Charlie McGreevy, the European Commissioner heading the review of the French system "mad with rage".

In their ridiculous arrogance, the French have well and truly shot themselves in the foot, while any chance of a sympathetic hearing has well and truly gone.

Suddenly France Galop, the equivalent of the Jockey Club, and the SECF (who organise trotting) are the best of buddies, having not spoken for decades. They are planning to send a huge delegation to Brussels to put their case, a business trip that was presumably paid for out of PMU funds.

For the defence of the current system they cite bizarre arguments such as "it's our right to have a monopoly". Err, no, you signed that away when joining the Common Market.

The "protection of the punter" is another red-herring - the idea being that they (the PMU) have their best interests at heart (and as we all know bookies will happily rip the shirt of a punters' back). This is despite a huge increase in the number of types of bets offered, massive advertising to entice gamblers, a betting kiosk in virtually every café and a massive marketing push for their own online internet site. Yeah right - pull the other one!
They claim liberalisation will kill a racing industry that is the envy of the world. Just like what happened in Belgium and to a lesser extent Germany.

I put it to these lobbyists that they are not truly worried about racing, but simply about themselves - that the gravy train they are riding being suddenly transported onto a track that is in the real world. Sure it will hurt them, but why should a system exist where wealthy land owners that are breeders be subsidised to the tune of 20 per cent of prize money? That's punters' money they're "stealing", as is the huge rake the Government awards itself in the form of gaming tax. If they are so concerned about "losing jobs on a massive scale" then the government could simply cut the tax to a more sensible level, putting millions of Euros back into the pot. Indeed, to some extent this has already started to happen (betting turnover and thus revenues rocketed) in the face of (illegal) competition from Malta.

In an open letter to the French press (which was more of an advert for his Chantilly-based nephew than anything based on hard facts), British owner Giles Pritchard-Gordon claimed that British racing is being run for betting and the bookmakers and this has led to an "endemic corruption", resulting in the current trial involving the Champion jockey. What a load of poppycock. At least the British are catching the crooks! He has no idea of the corruption level this side of the Channel. In my view, it's just as corrupt, probably more so, even if it is only a small minority that cheat.

So amid all this huff and puff about ruination of an industry, all I see is a lot hot air from self-interested parties - mainly the breeders who grab the daft breeding subsidies, then promptly send their mares abroad to be covered by "proper" stallions.

Not a damn is given about the poor punter who has been fleeced by the industry for centuries.

I mean, if racing is in such good shape in France, why doesn't anbody bother going to the tracks to watch? It's a show for the wealthy run by the wealthier, and at the punters expense and the introduction of competition is a welcome kick in backside and great news for the average Joe Punter.