Demanded by online gaming operators for many years, the opening of internet casinos is being waved like a red rag by physical casino operators who fear “catastrophic consequences” on the sector, from which the municipalities which host casinos would also suffer. Particularly in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var which have 20 casinos.
A third of French casinos could close
“We’ve been talking about the arrival of online casinos for around ten years, confirms Clément Martin Saint-Léon, the general director of games for the Barrière group, which has 5 casinos in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var. If legalization were to be implemented, it is estimated that 30% of our customers would no longer travel to gamble. The large casinos could survive but that would mean the death of a third, that is to say between 60 and 70% of establishments.insists the representative of the Barrière group who is also the general secretary of Casinos de France.
According to the National Gaming Authority (ANJ), this would lead to the loss of 15,000 direct jobs in total, not counting indirect jobs linked to entertainment.
Impact on the attractiveness of territories
“These indirect jobs are estimated at 45,000, specifies Edwin Pierre, general manager of the Joa La Siesta casino in Antibes. Cis the little-known part of our profession and a French specificity for the 202 French casinos, we have obligations: to provide catering and entertainment in the broad sense in our establishment but also outside. For our Siesta casino, 1.3 million euros per year are devoted to this part. Tomorrow, if our turnover drops, this will have consequences in terms of animation and tourist attractiveness of the regions.”
Tax losses for cities and state
The impact of such a measure is also less revenue for the State and local authorities. Today, land-based casinos represent 1.5 billion in tax revenue, of which 500 million are returned to the communities where the casinos are located, as part of a public service delegation. With a drop in turnover which could be between 25% to 30%, the share which is paid to the municipalities, as well as to the State, will therefore be less. According to Clément Martin Saint-Léon, it could lose 450 million euros in tax revenue. “What the State could gain in taxation on the one hand with online casinos, it could lose on land-based casinos. So in my opinion it is completely counterproductive.”
What alternative?
However, professionals in the sector are not completely resistant to change. “It’s the meaning of history to move towards digitalization, but not to the detriment of anything else,” warns Edwin Pierre from the Joa group. “We can develop the sector, but by measuring each of the impacts. If this choice were to be made tomorrow, we would have to leave this role to land-based casinos. For us, this is the only possible alternative.” adds Clément Martin Saint-Léon.
This is the Jade project which has been in the pipeline of French casino operators for several years: it would mirror its online gaming offering to a physical French establishment. “Today we are in the best position to enforce the rules of the game, pleads Edwin Pierre. Because we have been operating in our casinos for over 100 years. You have to let us have control over that. It is then up to us to reinvent ourselves and be creative to continue to attract our customers to our establishments. But the two can coexist if we keep our hands together.”
Not necessarily to the taste of the dealer unions who still fear, in the long term, an erosion in the number of jobs linked to games. A sector already weakened by the massive arrival of slot machines in French casinos.
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