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France – Over half of France’s 201 casinos suffer declines in 2018

By - 7 March 2019

Whilst France’s 201 casinos posted a tint rise in gaming revenues throughout 2018 more than half of the country’s gaming floors are in decline.

The total GGR for the casino sector came in at €2,305.7m compared to €2,292.7m a year earlier, an increase of 0.57 per cent. It is the smallest increase for some years with the sector achieving growth of 2.45 per cent in 2017, €2.59 per cent in 2016 and 2.74 per cent in 2015. The French casino market peaked in 2007 when it generated 2,788.2m

The small increase in GGR for the last year was actually lower than inflation over the same period, which came in at 2.2 per cent. In 2018, only 99 French casinos managed to post growth with 102 falling from the previous year’s revenues. Many of the smaller casino suffered a down turn. Of the bottom 30 casinos in terms of the amount of GGR generated, 25 were in decline. Casino Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, owned by SFC Group, was down 17 per cent and finished in 176th position. Villars-de-Lans, which is owned by Arevian Group and finished 190th position saw its revenues drop by 15.73 per cent. But the biggest downturn was suffered by Amelie-les-Bains whose revenues fell by 20.81 per cent in 2018 compared to a year earlier. The property finished in second to last place in terms of revenue.

The top earning casino remains Enghien-les-Bains, owned by Lucien Barrière, with a GGR of €165.617m but even its revenues fell over the year by 2.35 per cent. Lucien Barrière occupied the the top four places. With its casino in Blotzheim moving from fifth to second place with GGR of €47.3m showing growth of 3.49 per cent. It finished ahead of Barrière’s properties in Toulouse with GGR of €46.4m, down 2.2 per cent and Bordeaux with GGR of €46.3m, down 0.35 per cent.

The Tranchant-owned casino in Amnéville Group came in fifth with €44.7m marking growth of 1.31 per cent. It finished in front of two Partouche casinos with its property in Aix-en-Provence finishing sixth and La Tour -de-Salvagny finishing seventh. The top ten finished with Casino Barrière de Lille in eighth place generating €40.766m, up 5.08 per cent, in front of another establishment in the North, Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, of the Partouche group, which earned €38.546m, up 0.74 per cent and the Barrière casino in Deauville, which brought in €37.636m but fell 0.82 per cent.

At the other end of the ranking, out of the last ten, seven are independent casinos and with the exception of Grasse, which was up 168.76 per cent, having opened in 2016, all show a negative GGR, between -2.76 per cent and -20.81 per cent, which obviously obviates any possibility of investing heavily in new machines and weakens their cash position.

For the main groups with more than 10 casinos, the situation is very variable. Barrière, with 26 casinos, generated GGR of €694.2m,, down 0.11 per cent year-on-year. The 39 Partouche casinos were also down, with an overall GGRJ of €535.2m, down 0.89 per cent. Joa, with 24 casinos, has a GGR of €240m , up 1.38 per cent. The 16 Tranchant casinos generated revenues of €188.9m, up 2.24 per cent. Vikings Casinos, which has 11 casinos, accounted for € 59.9m of the total revenue and was up 8.36 per cent, boosted by a new opening in Sanary-sur-Mer. The Arevian group also has 11 casinos with a GGR of €39.5m, showing growth of 4.47 per cent.

Caption: The casino in Amelie-les-Bains

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