Operator News
France – Increased spend per head balances out lower attendance for Partouche
By Phil - 9 March 2022
The reopening of all casinos in France led to a sharp increase in spend per head for Groupe Partouche in its first quarter although attendance was still impacted by health measures.
Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) amounted to €141.8m compared to €24.9m in 2021 when all French casinos were closed under the general measures taken by the Government to deal with the coronavirus pandemic Covid-19. The increase was helped by the strong growth of Swiss online games, coming in at €3.2m compared to €0.6m during the first quarter 2021.
Whilst all the group’s casinos are open again, they continue to suffer from the health constraints in place that weigh on their attendance, which was down sharply by 33 per cent compared to the first quarter 2020 (November 2019 to January 2020) which was the last pre-pandemic operating period, the average spend per head increased by 30.3 per cent to €94 over the same period.
This first quarter also takes into account an effect in the scope of consolidation linked to the cessation of the operation of online games and bets in Belgium together with the cessation of the Ostend casino management since July 29 2021. In the first quarter of 2021, the casino was closed, the GGR of online games and sports betting amounted to €23.7m and €13.6m in the first quarter of 2020.
The group said that the sale of its shares of the Crans-Montana casino will be reinvested.
Partouche missed out on the renewal of Le Laurent restaurant though. The company said: The City of Paris awarded the concession for the Le Laurent restaurant to another operator, the offer submitted by Groupe Partouche, which aimed to integrate its gaming club within the establishment, having been considered irregular by the City. Groupe Partouche reserves the right to contest this decision. As a reminder, the annual contribution to turnover and EBITDA for the 2019 pre-pandemic financial year (November 2018 to October 2019) amounted to €5.2m and -€ 1.1m respectively.”
