Operator News
France – French casinos up 2.76 per cent from pre-pandemic 2019 last year
By Phil - 1 March 2023
The French Central Racing and Gaming Service (SCCJ) of the Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that France’s casinos generated GGR of €2.45bn in2022, marking a yearly increase of 130 per cent, and an increase from the pre-pandemic year of 2019 of 2.76 per cent.
Stéphane Piallat, Head of the SCCJ, said: “This health crisis exit report illustrates the resilience of the economy of gaming but with very disparate situations from one establishment to another.”
While there has been no wave of casino closures thanks to state aid, 105 casinos have not yet returned to their pre-health crisis level.
“The second observation,” added Mr. Piallat, “concerns the attendance at gaming establishments, which is declining (down by 15 per cent with or 5m fewer admissions) but this has in no way led to a drop in economic dynamism. Are we witnessing, a transformation in the attendance of casinos tightened around regular players or is this a side effect of the drop in the additional services offered, such as shows, catering? The high level of the player’s average basket can only question the sustainability of this new deal. The inflationary context in no way simplifies the analysis of this situation. Should we draw any conclusions for the future from this year of activity rebound? The atypical nature of certain indicators reported to each of the gaming establishments leads to caution. It seems to us that 2023 will be more of a reference year. »
The number of entries into French casinos totaled 28,302,887.
“On the casino side, we are leaning more towards a drop in occasional players, spending little in the establishment, who have not all returned to local casinos and for some have undoubtedly turned to online gaming sites illegal. In addition, the latest health measures were lifted in March 2022 and the resumption of entertainment has been very gradual,” Mr. Piallat explained.
Nothing has changed for the top five in the standings of top-earning casinos during the year. Enghien-les-Bains is still the undisputed leader of the sector with GGR of €167.126m ahead of two other establishments of the Barrière group, Blotzheim with €66.563m and Toulouse with €53.098m. The fourth is the Partouche casino in Aix-en-Provence which generated €50.061m, ahead of Bordeaux with €47.719m and Lille with €47.22m, both owned by Barrière. The casino in Amnéville, owned by Trachant group, was seventh with €44.626m and precedes three Partouche casinos, Saint-Amand les Eaux with €43.293m, Divonne-les-Bains with €42.210m and La Tour de Salvagny with €40.047m.
At the other end of the ranking, the ten lowest ranking casinos in terms of GGR, seven are independent establishments and three are owned by the Arevian group.
In terms of GGR, the Barrière group comes first with €764m, thanks to its 25 casinos and that of the SFMC. The Enghien casino alone represents 6.7 per cent of the gross gaming revenue overall.
The Partouche group, with 38 casinos, is in second place, with a GGR of €573m, ahead of the Joa group, whose 33 casinos achieved a GGR of €341m. The Tranchant group is fourth and with its 16 casinos, generating €194m.
There is a huge gap between these four leading groups and the following ones. Cogit, with eight casinos achieved a GGR of €82m. Vikings Casinos ranks 6th with its 11 casinos reaching €79m. ahead of Kasinos Bretagne with six establishments generating €54m, the Arevian group with 12 casinos genertaed €48m, Circus Casino France with seven venues generated €45m and finally Stelsia with seven casinos with GGr of €31m.
Finally, we can note that the top earning independent casino was that of Saint-Denis de la Réunion, which ranks 19th.
In terms of the break down of games in France, slots are generating 80 per cent, traditional table games eight per cent and circle games one per cent. The main table games offered by casinos are English Roulette, accounting for 40.31 per cent of table revenue, Black Jack, accounting for 37.94 per cent, Ultimate Poker, accounting for 11.78 per cent and French Roulette accounting for 8.37 per cent, and which are available only in Enghien and Evian.
Electronic table games represent 11 per cent of the total GGR but and are still experiencing strong growth. Unsurprisingly, English roulette represents 88.42 per cent of the GGR of electronic games and was present in 197 of the 203 casinos, Black Jack accounted for 11.5 per cent of this GGR with an installation in 157 casinos.
For the first time, this annual report includes the activity of Parisian gaming clubs, whose overall GGR amounts to €107.252m. The top earning club is the Club Pierre Charron, which generated €22.163m, ahead of the Paris-Elysées Club of the Tranchant group which produced €20.259m and the Club Champs-Élysées of the Barrière group with €19.772m. The 4th is the Imperial Club of the Raineau group with 18.903m, the 5th the Circus Club Paris of the Circus group generating €15.210m, the 6th the Club Montmartre which came in at €9.059mand finally, in seventh place, the Punto Club of the Partouche group with €1.883m.
Among the games played last year in clubs, Punto Banco is in the lead, with 35.53 per cent of the GGR, followed by Ultimate Texas Hold’em Poker with 26.81 per cent, then Poker 21 with 17.69 per cent, Texas Hold’em Poker with 14.59 per cent and Omaha with 3.79 per cent.
