What are the causes of the situation?
The gaming clubs came from the gaming circles of Paris which were generally 1901 associations, some of which may have indulged in some excesses… The State decided to close them in Paris, a city where casinos are prohibited, and to replace with gaming clubs with more transparent shareholders, namely casino groups (Barrière, Partouche, Tranchant, Raineau, etc.) or independents showing their credentials. Thus structured, the clubs received an experimental authorization to operate in 2018, renewable after 3 years by the Finance Bill. At the end of 2024, the censorship of the Barnier government and the non-vote of the budget caused the baby to go away with the bathwater. Due to a lack of legislative text, the Directorate of Public Liberties and Legal Affairs (DLPAJ), which covers the operation of games on French territory, was unable to renew the authorization. This is why we find ourselves today in an incredible economic and social imbroglio.
What are the dangers of the situation?
From my point of view, they are twofold. There is of course, first of all, the fate of our Parisian colleagues (I myself am a member of the management of the Casino d’Enghien-les-Bains, the first in France) who only receive partial unemployment instead of of their full salary, with no visibility into the future. There Fédération CFE-CGC Inova supports them through communication and support actions on the ground thanks to the work of its elected and mandated officials. The other pitfall lies in the transition from a legal offer to a clandestine offer. Clubs are responding to a demand from players, but this demand has not disappeared. Poker players are very attached to the game, it’s a whole sociology. Let’s not be naive: cut off from their passion, they continue to play at the moment, informally, which legally creates a disturbance to public order.
When you are not familiar with this sector, it is difficult to imagine that 7 gaming clubs alone employ 1,500 employees…
You say this because you are reasoning under the assumption that they all work at the same time. Clubs open early and close late. You cannot have all employees work on this scale. Parisian gaming clubs only offer card games, all variations of poker and blackjack, without roulette, electronic games and slot machines which are reserved for casinos. They employ an average of 200 employees: dealers and members of the back office and management (directors, catering, support functions, human resources, accounting, security, etc.).
-What do you think are the next steps?
We are waiting for the Prime Minister’s response, knowing that he has already responded to another organization telling them that he had forwarded the file to the Minister of Labor… We are not expecting much, frankly, from the the mayor of Paris who does not seem very concerned by the fate of gaming clubs in the capital. And we are therefore awaiting the activity of parliamentarians. We depend on their goodwill and that of the government. If the state budget is passed and there is no censorship, that will be enough to restart activity. With the incompressible deadline for parliamentary shuttles, we are already counting on a first quarter closed for businesses and for our colleagues who have been furloughed for political reasons.
Comments collected by Gilles Lockhart
Senegal
