Open air casino in France

While the European country is evaluating its gaming law from 1907, which forbids operators to work within 100 kilometres of Paris, new establishments are planned for South France.

France.- Casino operators group Partouche is planning the construction of an open air casino in the memorable shipbuilding city of La Ciotat, near Marseille, South of France, for 2016 spring. The project arose from the relocation of Casino Flots Bleus of which the national group is currently owning the licence.

Almost US$11 million were initially invested in the purchase of slots machines, table games and the innovation of the building designed by Marc Fercy firm. The place theme is ships and sea as the architectural shape of the establishment is an overturned boat hull with a terrace of 1.300 m2. Its walls are from glass decorated by prickly plant hedges. Players will enjoy betting while smoking, thanks to the open air and they will be protected of rain or sun by huge canvas umbrellas.

This could be a major step in Partouche destiny given the fact that they’ve been facing a decline since last year. Although they announced an income of US$561 million in 2015, the French operators suffered a drop of 2.1 percent of their revenues. Fabrice Paire, President of Partouche’s Corporate Executive Board, expressed: “The open air concept will have a casino inside and outside, with so many machines outdoors making a La Ciotat a world first. Casinos that only offer indoor games have been significantly outperformed by those few casinos abroad offering a small portion outdoors.”