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Auditor General of the Council of State recommends suspending the appointment of Napoleon Games
Viage, the current owner of the Brussels casino licence, has contested its award to Napoleon Games with the Belgian Council of State, who’s Auditor General has recommended the suspension of the award.
Brussels announced on July 17 that it had selected the casino operator, a subsidiary of the Romanian group Superbet, from among six bids, to run the country’s largest casino for 15 years starting January 1, 2027. The candidate received an overall score of 91.02 out of 100, compared to 87.74 for Viage, a subsidiary of Casinos Austria, which currently manages the establishment.
Casinos Austria’s appeal focuses in particular on the evaluation methods used for the different bids. A significant discrepancy emerged regarding the criterion concerning the proposed vision for the casino’s future: Napoleon Games received 30 points, compared to 20 for Viage, while two other candidates received 25 points. Given the small difference between the top two bids in the overall ranking, the score for this criterion heavily influenced the final result.
As reported by Journal des Casinos, Viage is contesting, in particular, the way in which the various applications were evaluated. According to its legal counsel, certain elements stipulated in the specifications were not analysed, while others, not included, were taken into consideration. The issue of relocating servers related to online gaming activities was specifically raised. The City of Brussels acknowledged that this element was included in the evaluation report, while maintaining that it did not play a decisive role in the selection of the winning bidder. The City of Brussels, for its part, defends its evaluation method and believes it has the authority to make a fair assessment when comparing the bids.
The auditor general’s analysis, however, called into question the reasoning behind the decision. He considered, in particular, that the candidates did not provide sufficiently detailed information to fully understand how their scores were calculated. He also noted a lack of breakdown between certain sub-criteria, as well as commitments deemed insufficiently concrete and the presence of several undated letters in Napoleon Games’ application. According to him, certain elements corresponding to the specifications were also less developed in the Romanian operator’s bid than in Viage’s, whose application was more complete on several points.
The procedure also raises a question regarding the European regulation on foreign subsidies. This regulation stipulates certain reporting or notification obligations to the European Commission when the value of a contract reaches or exceeds €250m. With a concession estimated at €750m, this threshold is significantly exceeded. Given the estimated value of the concession at €750m, certain notification obligations to the European Commission would apply. According to the Auditor General, the city failed to specify these obligations in its tender documents and did not submit the required documentation to the Commission.
