In Sedan, the project to build a casino in the upper castle abandoned?
On March 15, 2019 was signed the Pact Ardennes between the state and several local economic actors. This action plan for the department was born of a common ambition: to make the Ardennes a region of the future. However, the Pacte Ardennes includes a project that seems to be at a standstill (or has not been communicated for the last three years): the development of a casino in the castle of Sedan, a former 15th century fortress.
Casino in Sedan castle: the project is not totally dead
The mayor of Sedan, Didier Herbillon, still believes hard as iron in the project to build a casino within the walls of the castle of Sedan. But for this to be realized, a change in the law would be necessary.
” The problem now is that only seaside or spa towns are eligible to host a casino. Sedan does not belong to this category of cities. “However, he fails to mention that it is still possible to set up a gaming establishment in towns with more than 500,000 inhabitants (which is obviously far from being the case in Sedan).
The project also has the support of the LR deputy Jean-Luc Warsmann, who even claims that it is not totally abandoned: “ The project almost saw the light of day because a report by the general inspection of the administration recently offered the possibility of changing the law on casinos in France. But there was a blockage at the level of the Ministry of the Interior, which was visibly against the project, while the Ministry of Equality of Territories was in favor of it. “, explains the interested party.
On the necessity to change the law for the whole French territory
In view of the possibility of a casino being implanted among the ramparts of the castle of SedanJean-Luc Warsmann claims to have multiplied his actions since the formation of the new Macron government. For example, the deputy of the third Ardennes constituency in office since 1995 revealed that he had several exchanges with the cabinet of the Minister of the Interior. ” I went to the Ministry on February 16. We are in the process of thinking of a solution to get an authorization passed in our legislature “, says Jean-Luc Warsmann.
According to the deputy – who has sent a drafting proposal to the Ministry of the Interior – a vote on the relaxation of the legislation would be possible by 2024. Indeed, Jean-Luc Warsmann declared that a new law would be envisaged, which “would allow the (…) will make it possible to reopen a certain number of casinos in cities where this is not authorized “.
And Jean-Luc Warsmann concluded: ” The objective is to ensure that the new definition allows a city like Sedan to meet all the required criteria. To do this, the law must be changed for all of France “.
