Operator News
France – Joa opens 33rd casino in Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux
By Phil - 21 May 2021
French casino group Joa has opened its 33rd casino group with the debut of the Saint-Laurent en Grandvaux in the Jura region of Eastern France.
This is the second casino in the region for the group who bought the venue in Lons le Saunier from Emerald.
Located in the heart of the Haut Jura Regional Natural Park and close to Switzerland, the Joa Casino in Saint-Laurent-en-Grandvaux offers a diversified leisure area suitable for everyone. The Lyon group has invested €8.5m for this 2,500 m2 building, which will initially offer 75 slot machines comprising 62 video reels, seven traditional reels and six video poker machines, with seven exclusives, four of which are European. 16 of these machines are installed on an outdoor terrace intended for smokers. For electronic games, 10 English Roulette stations and seven Black Jack stations have been installed. For traditional games, there will be two Black Jack tables from June 9.
There is a restaurant with 150 seats indoors and 56 on the terrace. Entertainment and dinner shows are planned after the final stage of the government plan, on June 30, which should see the end of all health restrictions.
Joa describes the property as a ‘new generation’ casino whose architecture allows a perfect integration into the natural setting, and which embodies the brand’s ambition to change the way people see the world of casinos and make this establishment a fun place to leisure and conviviality with 50 per cent of the floor space dedicated to non-gaming.
Laurent Jourdain, Director General of Gaming at the venue, said: “In view of the health measures in force for this deconfinement, the establishment has set itself a lower tonnage than the measures in force. According to the regulations, we must not accommodate more than 35 per cent of the total capacity which is 1,060 people outside the covid period; or 370 people maximum. We set ourselves a limit of 120 people a.”
Despite the opening, the number of casinos in France has remained at 202 with the casino in Saint-Galmier in Loire, closing on the same day.
