Listed for August, is finally on Saturday that the casino game is scheduled to open on the island of Ramler. It will however await the approval of the security committee which is to inspect its premises today. During a previous visit at the end of August, she issued an opinion unfavorable to the opening of this facility that covers 14 300 m2.
A delay will not be neutral for finance manager, the Barrier Group . Indeed, it must pay a fine of 5000 euros per day of delay at the town hall … After two months, this brings the note to nearly 300 000 euros. Besides the salaries of 200 employees and operating shortfall, nearly 3 million euros in sales for September alone.
But the facility should recover quickly because it envisages a turnover of 50 to 53 million euros for 2008. It will transfer a portion to the municipality under the State fee, or more than 4 million. In the meantime, Toulouse will have discovered the 250 slot machines, three restaurants, one or Fouquet’s theater seats 1200.
While mayor of Dax must already contend with the dissatisfaction of the Accor group, which comes before the court to terminate the 2 million annual rent it pays to the City for operation by four renowned hotels, a second company just rang at the door of Jacques Forte. In this case, the group Lucien Barriere , which operates in Dax, as everyone knows, the casino of the same name Avenue Millies-Lacroix.
An institution that aspires to him, a decrease, not rent, but samples from the City’s gross gaming revenue: slot machines, roulette and blackjack. Taxes that are currently around the tune of one million euros per year. 15% of the revenue of the casino games that fall into the coffers of the City. What is the maximum allowable tax.
Barrier: “From the beginning, we lose money”
“Winning our lives. “A situation which, if it is not as tight with the Accor group, is nevertheless increasingly unpalatable side of the casino. Indeed, as the Barrier Group , these levies are not strangers to the financial difficulties faced by his establishment in the first spa town in France.
“Since the beginning of the concession, we lose money, says Nicolas Ricat, marketing director of Groupe Barrière . But this is not a cyclical problem, as it may be the case elsewhere, it is a structural problem. “Clearly, the burden on the casino dacquois are considered too important.
“The casino is well run, he adds, but if we want to make a decent life, we must change the model. Especially as other cities, including some very close, samples were substantially smaller than us. We have therefore initiated discussions with the mayor in this direction. ”
Transparency. This confirms that Jacques Forte. Mayor Dax is also a general committee meeting soon where the majority civic and opposition to an update on this issue. “I do not know yet what we do, but we will decide this issue in a transparent manner,” he warns.
However, the product sets up 10%
Remains that despite the financial losses announced by the Barrier Group , this demand also comes at a time when the casino Dax sees its business grow. The gross gaming has indeed increased by 10% in 2006 to $ 7.3 million.
An improvement, which the Barrier Group , does not change the problem.
No Smoking. However, if this coincidence, otherwise this paradox should not fail to ask politicians, it is certain that the constraints for the casinos have multiplied in recent months. And it’s not over, as is looming ban on smoking in all public places. “Already, we have to verify such identities in the coming games rooms, says Nicolas Ricat. And soon, customers will no longer have the right to smoke. Wherever this measure is passed, attendance at casinos has dropped from 15 to 20%? ”
A situation which is added another point of tension: the lack of slots. So he now has seventy-armed bandits, casino still hopes to reach the threshold of percent. A deficit of thirty machines so that is also beginning to weigh heavily in the balance of grievances. “Every weekend, Nicolas Ricat ensures we are in saturation. We need more machines. At the same time to have a more diversified and attractive to stay. “The only certainty casino Dax holds a special place in the eyes of Jacques Forté:” In 1995, I said I’d do a casino to pay the banks of the Adour. This is the case, since the revenue of the casino allow us to cover the loan for this project. “Hard to know if this story will encourage the mayor to revise downwards its withdrawal. But there is another detail that could raise a few grins: indeed, if the family is the majority shareholder of the barrier group with 51%, found a partner in second place well known to the City: Accor, with 34%. It is true that the spa and games are closely linked …
Casino Theatre Barriere, one of the biggest casino in France, opened its doors to the public Saturday in Toulouse, a month before its official opening, was a journalist from AFP.
“This is a pre-opening, it was still a few days or weeks to tweak settings in terms of decoration, soundproofing, etc..,” He told AFP David Parr, managing director of “multi-leisure complex next generation.”
With an investment of 70 million euros, this group Lucien Barriere expects to receive from 1500 to 2000 customers a day around 250 slot machines and 14 table games.
Three restaurants, including Le Fouquet’s Toulouse, three bars of atmosphere, a theater of 1,200 seats, which should open in early November, were arranged in a building of 14,300 square meters, built on the site of the former School of Chemistry destroyed by the explosion at the AZF chemical factory in September 2001.
After two years of work, the casino opening, originally scheduled for August 24, had been postponed pending a green light from the safety commission, which was finally granted on Friday.
An association of residents’ Casino in Toulouse, no thank you “opposes the opening of this hotel on the island of Rainier in the south of Toulouse. She testified before the administrative court proceedings for revocation of building permits the casino, saying it was erected in the flood zone.
Under the terms of the resolution of August 6, 2007, the municipal council of the town of Amelie-les-Bains has decided to entrust the management of municipal casino to SAS AMS as of January 1, 2008.
As such, the delegate plans to operate games of matching called “ball”, as well as 30 slot machines.
By order of October 8, 2007, he was required to open an administrative investigation on the request for authorization to operate games. The survey will run for 11 consecutive days from October 19 to October 29, 2007 included, for mayor of Amelie-les-Bains, 5 rue des Thermes. The inquiry commissioner personally receive public comments at City Hall Amélie-les-Bains, Monday, October 29 from 9 am to 12 pm and 13 pm 30-17 pm
Three thousand visitors for the opening Saturday. Three thousand more the next day. These are the attendance figures given by the Groupe Lucien Barriere at the end of the first weekend of operation of its new casino theater Ramler. A figure to be in parallel with the 200 daily customers registered with the casino Provisional Cépière.
“A good start,” said David Parr, director of the institution, which “welcomes the commitment of staff” and admits: “Yes, we are still in the process of improvement for the client’s comfort, in phase adjusting lighting light or sound, for example. The surrounding area is to tweak the entrance, the atrium, where the escalators, must also be improved. ”
came from afar to discover
“People came from afar, Albi, Montauban, moreover, expected to discover the casino, whose opening has been eagerly awaited,” says the director.
A lot of expectation and curiosity, critics sometimes. As this jaunty quadra, surprised by the speed of the elevator: “I almost keeled over,” and the modern slot machines. “This is a new generation used for the first time in France and even Europe, said David Parr, this requires a bit of teaching from our staff. We have dedicated hostesses at the Customer Training. ” It can also play directly inserting banknotes into the machines, “People do not necessarily know and it generates queues to change” the director acknowledges.
Strong demand for service by public transit is also obtained, including the elderly, fond of play The casino is currently available with line 38 (the Bridge to Blowing Empalot) and the metro. The idea of a river shuttle is being explored to link the center to the future cancéropôle with serving Ramler (casino and Parc des Expos). But for now this is a draft.
He can not even operate slot machines
Pending the opening of the hotel-casino Barrière Group scheduled for spring 2009, a temporary facility will open its doors on November 1 at the Atrium of Euralille, on the forecourt of Rotterdam. After eight months of preparation and an investment of 10 million, appears ready to accommodate all the players … except the operating permit slot machines.
150 slot machines and 80 employees
“It’s a matter of days, says Jerome Colin, head of the project. By February, the casino is expected to host about 150 machines and bring 80 employees, including 30 dealers. ”
Meanwhile, nine gaming tables (four casters English, four black-jacks and a stud poker) are already installed on the 900 m2 clean design of the place. A bar-restaurant and a small stage show are also present. “We want to become an entertainment center. We will be open seven days a week, all year, and up to 4 hours of the morning, “adds Jerome Colin.
But to prevent abuse, the Barrier Group has secured the services of a psychologist who is regularly present in the room. A first in France: “The dining room staff tell me customers adrift. They will also meet with me to establish a moral contract to space their visits, “says Stephanie Lienard, psychologist. The Barrier Group table games on a product estimated annual 20 million euros
Michèle Alliot-Marie, Interior Minister, welcomed Wednesday in Paris that the French casinos can now be found in the online gaming industry in a message read at a symposium on “games of chance and gambling “.
Online games are currently allowed in France only to PMU and the French games.
“For online games, I would consider the future without taboo,” assured the Minister of the Interior, governing body of the 193 French casinos in a message read by Marc-Andre Ganibenq, Deputy Director Civil Liberties and the Administration Police Department, during the symposium “To adapt the French model of gambling and money.”
“In this spirit,” says Ms Alliot-Marie, he should, in consultation, to find ways that allow the profession to be present in these new markets without lowering the level of vigilance that operators and the state must maintain quality and supply of games. ”
Moreover, the minister announced that she would “take initiatives soon” to “open a discussion on the evolution of the system of administrative authorizations to move towards greater speed and transparency.”
Currently, permits for opening casinos, renewal and authorization to operate new slot machines depend on the Higher Commission of games, an advisory committee, including Minister of the Interior following systematic review since 2005.
Ms Alliot-Marie also wanted to strengthen the harmonization of rules between the three sectors of the games: Lottery (French Games), Horse Paris (PMU) and casinos.
These three operators (104,000 jobs) in 2006 generated a turnover of 20.3 billion euros.