Operator News
France – Ardent confirms 2019 opening for Circus Club
By Phil - 21 November 2018
The Ardent Group has begun the recruitment process for its Circus Club which it hopes to open in Paris in the second quarter of 2019.
Sebastien Leclercq, General Manager of Circus Club, which is owned by the Belgian group Ardent will open its Parisian gaming establishment at 37-39 Boulevard Murat, in the 16th arrondissement. Work is underway under the direction of Franck Labbay and Christine Bonneau, architect and interior designer. The club will operate seven days a week from 6 pm to 4:30 am and will organize regular tournaments. The Ardent group says it “is already the leader in poker and poker events in northern Europe with the Casino de Namur and intends to impose its mark and its pace in Paris in the coming years.” For the opening, 18 poker tables are planned as well as a dozen other gaming tables. Over the full year, Circus Club Paris hopes to attract 70,000 people
A hundred people will be recruited for the gaming side of the operation, security and food and beverage.
So far, the Ministry of the Interior has authorised four gaming clubs to open in the capital. The Paris Elysées Club owned Tranchant, opened on April 26, at rue Marbeuf, in the 8th arrondissement.
L’Impérial Club, Raineau Group, will launch in December, in the Massena 13 shopping center, in the 13th arrondissement.
The opening date of the Barrière club, which will occupy the former premises of the Aviation Club de France, on the Champs-Elysees, opposite Fouquet’s, is not yet known.
Other groups should follow as soon as they have permission from the Ministry of the Interior. The Joa group already has its premises at rue Royale, in the 2nd arrondissement, between Madeleine and Concorde with the Partouche group expected to confirm its entry to the new Parisian market soon..
The Ardent Group is buying shares in the capital of Société Franco-Belge de Casinos from French operator SFC for €2.8m. Ardent is taking the group’s 49 per cent stake with the deal expected to close on March 31, 2019.
SFC is still in discussion over the sale of the casino in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. It said it wants to focus its efforts on its five majority-owned casinos in Capvern, Châtel-Guyon, Collioure, Gruissan and Port la Nouvelle.
