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France – French Minister of the Interior to consider relaxing casino location laws

By Phil - 18 February 2021

A report submitted to the French Minister of the Interior has suggested expanding the list of eligible cities able to host casinos. Currently 38 French departments out of 101, do not have a casino.

According to MP Jean-Luc Warsmann, a relaxation will be proposed for tourist municipalities. The report proposes that a municipality labelled a tourist City and part of a community of more than 100,000 inhabitants should be able to operate a casino.

Casinos fall under the law of June 15, 1907, which initially only allowed seaside resorts or spa towns to host a casino. This legislation was later expanded to climatic stations, then in 1988 to the cities at the head of an agglomeration of more than 500,000 inhabitants with specific criteria. Jean-Luc Warsmann and Didier Herbillion, mayor of Sedan in the Ardennes region of France, have been pushing for the relaxation of this legislation for more than 15 years.
In early 2019, the President of the Republic met with Jackie Goulet, Mayor (DVG) of Saumur, who pleaded with all the members of the department for a casino in his city. Emmanuel Macron, according to Mr. Goulet, responded favourably.

In Sedan, the concept of a casino being developed in the city’s castle has been one of the 108 proposals contained in the Ardennes Pact, an action plan for the department, since February 2019.

Mr. Warsmann said: “A lot of Ardennes play in casinos in Belgium because there is no casino in our department. I insist on defending France’s fiscal interests. In addition, a casino is a lever of attraction for the territories.”

Caption: Château de Saumur