Operator News
France – Joa completes takeover of the Emerald group
By Phil - 22 July 2019
Since early July, the group Joa has quietly taken possession of the eight establishments of the Emerald group, taking its total number of operations to 32
This acquisition marks the end of a vast redistribution of casino ownership in the sector, kick-started in July 2015 by the Barrière Group, who sold nine small casinos no longer in line with its vision of the future for Barrière.
With the exception of Besançon, sold to Joa, the sale of the eight other casinos has allowed small groups to grow by expanding their offer with Arevian, Vikings Casinos, SFC, Aupiais and new operator Circus France all seeing growth as a result.
The Joa Group, bought in the summer of 2017 by the American investment firm Blackstone, owned 22 casinos at the time. The arrival of this new shareholder allowed the company to change its visision. First it took over two new establishments, the casinos of Cannes-Mandelieu and Gujan-Mestras, then it negotiated with the Emeraude group led by Marie-Pierre Landowski, to buy its eight casinos, representing a turnover of €65m euros in 2018, 800 employees and three hotels.
The casinos in Mandelieu and Gujan-Mestras, will see a gradual change to their brands, a change that began in the last quarter, with an investment of €500,000 per casino.
In December, the Joa Group will open a club in Paris. The Joa Royale Club, housed in a mansion on Rue Royale (8th), will offer 18 traditional games tables on 1,000 m2 as part of the experimental phase launched in January 2018. Finally, the group won the concession for the operation of a casino in Saint-Laurent in Grandvaux (Jura), last year with construction still to be done.
In terms of number of establishments, the group Joa is now second, behind the group Partouche, which operates to date 38 casinos (it has just lost that of Boulogne-sur-Mer) and in front of the group Lucien Barrière, 26 casinos with the SFCMC, and then the Tranchant group 16 casinos. Vikings Casinos has 11 establishments, such as the Arevian group.
In terms of turnover, the Joa group is third, behind the Barrière and Partouche groups.
Caption: Casino Bagnoles de l’Orne in Normandy
