after two months of chaos, reopening is just around the corner!
After two months of forced closure, Parisian gambling clubs may finally be getting ready to reopen their doors, with the help of an important ally: the Conseil d’Etat! The decision, potentially a happy one, would be greeted with the greatest relief, but also with a bitter taste… For behind the long weeks of imposed inactivity, a veritable financial haemorrhage has befallen the French gaming sector… and the State itself.
Gaming clubs: two months’ closure and millions of euros lost…
It all began on January 1, when the trial period for gaming clubs came to an abrupt end. The government, though in favor of maintaining them, found itself paralyzed by the dissolution of the National Assembly and the censure of the 2025 budget. Unable to extend the gaming clubs’ authorization to operate, the executive was forced to suspend the operation of seven establishments in the capital.
All in all, the cost of this forced shutdown was staggering. Firstly, for the French government, which had to bear the cost of short-time working for 1,500 employees, while at the same time forgoing substantial tax revenue. According to Bercy, each week of shutdown represented a loss of revenue of one million eurosover eight million euros in total…
Operators, too, were hit hard by this blow. Deprived of income, they have had to continue paying exorbitant rents for their prestigious locations, in addition to assuming 36% of their employees’ gross salaries despite state aid. The Tranchant group, based on rue Marboeuf, reported a loss of several hundred thousand euros, while the Circus group, located in the sixteenth arrondissement, estimates its losses at around 750,000 euros.
Paris clubs reopen under high tension
Last Tuesday, the Conseil d’Etat gave a favorable opinion on the case. The signature of the official decree issued by the Ministry of the Interior should enable the clubs to reopen at the earliest on February 28, or in the first days of March. The Gaming Establishments Consultative Commission is due to meet in the next few hours to sign the authorizations for the new casino. reopening of the capital’s seven gaming clubs.
For operators, the damage has already been done. Some fear that employees looking for greater stability will not return. As for the recruitment and training of new employees, this represents an unforeseen cost, which is likely to add to the bill…
Worse still, the crisis, which has probably passed, could have been an opportunity to put Parisian gaming clubs on a permanent footing. Instead, the 2025 budget merely extended the experiment for three years, until the end of 2027… A lack of visibility that deeply irritates industry professionals, who are now wary of investing in such uncertain conditions!
