when the casino of Fort-Mahon-Plage loses 36% of its turnover
French casino operators keep repeating it. The particularly restrictive measures of the Macron government during the Covid-19 pandemic have had devastating effects on the economy. While all the heavyweights in the French gambling industry have been severely impacted by the repeated confinements and curfews, the smallest establishments are still not able to get their heads above water… The example of the day: the Fort-Mahon-Plage casino, which is experiencing a 36% drop in its gaming revenue.
Fort-Mahon-Plage casino: 199 days of closure later…
Nearly five years ago, in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the Fort-Mahon-Plage casino justified a Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) of 69 million euros. At the close of the last balance sheet in October 2021, this figure had fallen back to just under… 38 million euros!
If these last times ” (…) the exercise was so difficult and complicated “, complains Luc Leborgne, General Manager of the Vikings Casinos group, it is mainly because of the restrictive measures – not to say liberticides -, implemented by the French government. Indeed, what turnover could the casino of Fort-Mahon-Plage hope to generate when we know that it had to close its doors for a total of 199 days in 2021?
” For gaming, we had a 36% decline in 2021 compared to 2020, and a 50% decline compared to 2019… In 2020, after the 86 days of shutdown, we figured we had done the hard part. Then there were the 199 days of shutdown in FY 2020-2021. That killed everything. And even though we were able to reopen on May 19, the 35% gauge and 9 p.m. curfew left a bitter taste. To top it all off, the arrival of the health pass on July 21 was the last straw. Our attendance was totally fractured “explains Luc Leborgne.
The vertiginous fall of the attendance rate!
Speaking of attendance rate, the latter has dropped precipitously. Indeed, compared to the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the Fort-Mahon-Plage casino has lost 38% of its clientele ! As for the Net Gaming Revenue (NGR), it reached only 1 669 000 €, against 2 438 000 €.
” The losses are reflected in the levies. In 2018-2019, the Fort-Mahon-Plage casino paid € 2,500,000 to the state and the community, as well as € 500,000 to the communal share. In 2020-2021, the levies dropped by half, or € 1,115,000, and the commune only received € 235,000. In the end, everyone pays the price of the absurdity of the decisions that were made during the Covid crisis “.
Note that the Fort-Mahon-Plage casino paid out 35 million euros to players in 2021, which represents about 93% of its turnover.
