As for the Partouche and Barrière groups, we highlight the risks of a drop in income, and therefore lower royalties for the budgets of the municipalities which host a gaming establishment.
It was a close call. A week ago, at the last moment, the government withdrew an amendment which, voted on, opened the way to the legalization of online casinos. A red line for casino operators, who have mobilized to denounce the consequences, harmful according to them, of such a development.
“We have a specificity in France, unique in Europe, which is that we have 202 casinos on the national territory, it is considerable, recalls Clément Martin Saint-Léon, general gaming director of the Barrière group, present in Agde, and general secretary of Casinos de France. However, these casinos are also used to partly finance the seaside and spa communities in which they are located.
“Our income would drop by 25% to 30%”
The importance of casino activity for the territory in which they are located is also recalled by Benoît Paire, chairman of the board of directors of the Partouche group, present in La Grande-Motte and Palavas. “If we opened online casinos, we would signify the death of a third of the casinos established in Francehe insists, based on an assessment by the National Gaming Authority (ANJ). This would result in the loss of 15,000 jobs in total and less income for municipalities because our income would drop by 25% to 30%.”.
Indeed, as the latter still says, “casinos pay back, in the largest municipalities, up to 15% of gaming proceeds”. “We are the only country to use, thanks to casinos, co-financing from communities as part of a public service delegationcontinues the general director of games at Barrière. For some municipalities, we are the main supplier and main employer”.
“We are not resistant to change”
Clément Martin Saint-Léon speaks of a “destabilization of the sector if, tomorrow, we opened online casinos”. A destabilization which would inevitably have an impact on the financing of communities. But also for the State, “who would lose 450 million euros in tax revenue”. The latter suggests changing the sector “by going step by step, by studying, if this were to be the evolution, the impact that the opening of online casinos would have on communities”.
Up to 3.5 million euros for municipalities
Mayors quickly understood the possibility of a vote authorizing online casinos. For them, this would mean the risk of seeing the royalties paid by the casinos drop drastically due to the drop in activity in their establishments. “The fewer players there would be in our casino, the less revenue there would be and the less money the casino would give us linked to gaming royalties”insists Stéphan Rossignol, mayor of La Grande-Motte (Hérault). The city, whose budget amounts to 26 million, receives around 3.5 million euros from the Partouche group casino. “The risk would not only be financial, it would impact our desire to maintain activity all year round in our city,” adds Stéphane Loda, mayor of Canet-en-Roussillon (Pyrénées-Orientales). His municipality receives 2 million euros in royalties from the casino, out of an operating budget of 35 million. In Grau-du-Roi (Gard), the casino pays 2.5 million euros to the city. “Which is anything but negligible as a budgetary revenue”it is specified. “If we opened online casinos, we would have to pay a little less than 1 million euros less to Agde town hall”assesses Clément Martin Saint-Léon, the games general manager of the Barrière group.
“We are not resistant to changefor his part supports Benoît Paire, but we cannot give in to the sirens of Betclic, the leader in online games in France, which has a result five times higher than mine”implying the lobbying carried out by the latter towards public authorities. He recalls the reaction of the mayors, more than a hundred, who wrote a forum to contest the proposed amendment and whose action undoubtedly led Laurent Saint-Martin, Minister of the Budget, to launch a broad consultation, after the withdrawal of the amendment on the subject.
Demanded by online gaming operators
Demanded by online gaming operators for many years, the opening of online casinos is being waved like a red rag by physical casino operators. They denounce the “catastrophic consequences” on the sector, from which the municipalities which host the casinos would also suffer. “Consultation is an essential prerequisite”insists the games general manager of the Barrière group. With an uncertain outcome however.
