Parisian gaming clubs will be able to reopen after two months of forced closure

Forced to close their doors on January 1st due to lack of a legislative framework , the seven Parisian gaming clubs will be able to reopen. The Council of State validated their reopening on Tuesday, February 25th. It should be possible to do so as early as Saturday, according to the casinos interviewed.

The implementing decree must still be published in the Official Journal and the advisory commission of gaming establishments, a body composed of around ten members, must meet on Friday to sign the authorizations necessary for reopening, according to the communication from the Barrière group, which has a gaming club in the capital. "We are delighted with the validation of the Council of State, which means that we will most likely be able to reopen before the end of the week. It is a relief for our customers and our 200 employees," reacted Clément Martin Saint-Léon, general director of gaming at the Barrière group.

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The owners of gaming clubs have all already been interviewed by the consultative commission, which allows for a rapid reopening procedure, explained Fabrice Paire, chairman of the board of the Partouche group, which also has a gaming club in the capital. These clubs, whose authorization should have been extended until the end of 2025 via the draft finance law, had warned in mid-December that they would have to close at the end of 2024, a "collateral effect" of the government's censure.

They have been tested since 2018 in the capital, where casinos have been banned for over a century within a radius of 100 km, with a single exception for the Enghien-les-Bains establishment. The initial experiment was supposed to end in 2020 but it was extended a first time until the end of 2022, then a second time until December 31, 2024. The 2025 finance law, finally adopted at the beginning of February, extends the experiment for another three years, until the end of 2027.

The closure of these clubs resulted in the 1,500 people employed by the sector being placed on short-time working . "It was urgent that we get out of this mess," said Fabrice Paire, noting that "1,500 people on short-time working is expensive." This is in addition to the four million euros in contributions not collected by the State due to the closure of the clubs, "not to mention the disruption to public order with the explosion of illegal parties," the manager points out.