France: The "Euro 2016 tax" to finance construction of stadiums extended through 2017

The "Euro 2016 tax", which consists of a 0.3% surcharge on the bets of the "Française des Jeux" (the French official betting organisation), excluding sports bets, to finance the construction of the Euro 2016 stadiums (France, from 10/06 to 10/07/2016), was extended for two years through 2017 by the French government, announced the French economic newspaper Les Échos on 04/09/2014.

This tax, introduced in 2011, was originally scheduled to be implemented through 2015 to enable the CNDS ("Centre National pour le Développement du Sport", the National Centre for the Development of Sports) to collect €120m during the period (or a limit of €24m per year) to finance the "construction or renovation projects of sports stadiums designed to host (...) Euro 2016."

However, the total expenditure expected for the CNDS was €160m, according to the report "Support policy to professional sports" by French MPs Guenhaël Huet and Régis Juanico, published on 11/07/2013. "It appears necessary to extend beyond the year 2015 this special tax, or to lift the ceiling on it, or else the credits of the CNDS…