FIRST GAMES

A casino could open its doors soon on the town The Barcarès (in Pyrenees-Orientales), and the ship aground “The Lydia” in particular.

It was on advice of the Commission Nationale Superieure games (CSJ), which met last Tuesday, January 27, the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has finally agreed last Friday.

Group Partouche , owner of the site since 2000, and who presides over the destinies already in Languedoc-Roussillon, casinos Gruissan, in the Aude, La Grande-Motte and Palavas-les-Flots in Herault, which will be responsible for the management of this property. This will be the fiftieth sign of this type for this group which has forty-three 43 gaming establishments in the hexagon and six abroad. The reopening of the casino in Port Barcarès could lead to the creation of fifty jobs. It is now nine casinos that make up the department of Pyrenees-Orientales (Amélie-les-Bains, Argelès-sur-Mer, Canet-Plage, Collioure, Font-Romeu, Le Boulou, Saint-Cyprien, Vernet-les-Bains and The Barcarès), which represents about 400 employees.

The Interior Ministry has granted permission to operate 50 automatic machines, which will be commissioned next March 5. A great satisfaction for all economic and tourist board and expected victory for institutional managers who recorded a deficit of nearly one million euros in its first year, private precious slots.

A year almost to the day after opening with traditional games, the casino Hauteville just received permission to install 50 machines. This authorization will give it a definite profit (95% of turnover). The deficit for the first year of operation, without the precious slots, has exceeded the blithely million. We recall that the proceedings had been launched in 1998 by the then mayor Bernard Maclet, and that the Company Tourist and Hotel Spa (STTH) Divonne who had won the contract to delegate, nose and beard Accor Casino. Covering an area of ??1964 m2, the casino elliptical original architecture and decoration in stone and wood, is gradually released land for a total investment of nearly $ 5 million. After a short year of operation chugging along, because if the attendance of the restaurant “Sesame” was satisfactory, the disco the ISBA did not always complete, whereas traditional games, but it was predictable in a rural sector, have been abandoned, the 36 employees smile again.

Thus, January 27, Claude Blot, the CEO of STTH Divonne and Mayor Bernard Argenti went to support the case to the Central games room Beauvau the Ministry of Interior. This third way has been good since yesterday, the mayor and the casino manager, Didier Aubert, were informed of the minister’s signature, although the official letter has not yet reached the office.

Opening scheduled
Dare-Dare, management attempted to find the famous bandits, specially made at a cost ranging from 10 to 15 000 euros each. There are in fact both models, machines, rollers and video poker. The bets vary on the first of 10 cents to 1 euro, with an average of 20 cents. Gains in turn will vary from 5 to 10 000 parts corresponding to those played. In poker, players can bet from 1 to 40 pieces and increase earnings by the successful combination, the pair put while paying down the set, the square, the fifth, then, to multiply the poker winnings. The computer programs of the machines are paid directly and sealed by the sworn officers of suppliers, MFC, casino employees could not work on this program, while the law imposes a minimum of 85% redistribution of machine-made.

Jackpot for the town.
The other big winner of the commissioning of the bandits will of course be the town that will create 10 new jobs, and will cash in passing 15% of gross gaming revenue, which could well represent estimated nearly 10% of its operating budget a full year. Cultural associations also receive a windfall of 7% and 0.3% of GGR is devoted to the beautification and tourism development. A real breath of fresh air for the station which has relied heavily on this equipment, catalyst for tourism development, the game after a year of waiting this time really worth the effort.

Prevention
In the case defended by the mayor included a special clause concerning the behavior of gamblers. Indeed these true addict of the game that we encounter in all casinos will be monitored by a cell, comprising members of committee staff and the CCAS local casino. Reporting on a social worker intervene, backed by the skills of local medical community specializing in the addiction field. What prevent any phenomena of indebtedness, and let the game its rightful place avoiding addictive behaviors.

resort development on tourism and training
Long confined to the health sector, which remains the bedrock of the local economy, however Hauteville undertakes genuine diversification of its activities. So after installing the Route du Bugey Adventures this summer is to heat the playfulness that moving the station.
This project presented by the tourist board is the construction of a fitness center around the pleasures of water and herbal medicine. This kind of complex welfare is already in the Pyrenees, and closer to home in Chamrousse. Heated water circulates in small pools where fans can relax according to various formulas for the hour or day, enjoying massages, various baths, all in an environment of local materials, making the part beautiful stone, the forest in a very resinous. Another project progresses, the construction of a European university trades. This place of exchange would allow students from across Europe to share and pursue common training modules of three or four months, in sectors such as health or woodworking. In the health sector, it seems now accepted that the future nursing school will be built at the Bugey Hauteville, skills may far exceed the boundaries of the area. In fact, is currently studying a draft training open to students from Switzerland and the third world countries. With the support of NGOs, African youth, or originating in third world countries might well follow their training in the station before returning to dispense their knowledge in their countries.

Argenti Bernard, mayor of the resort: “The casino is a catalyst”
“I went to support the folder instead Beauveau there a fortnight, with Claude Blot the CEO of STTH Divonne, and this is a first because previously only the mayor of the commune was heard by This committee of twenty members, which seems to respond to the will of the minister to change the practices. I defended the project, arguing it was a real catalyst for tourism development of the station. The first year of operation has confirmed the appropriateness of a delegate who has made many efforts in both the architectural design of the building than in investment in cultural evenings held high, while we encountered no security problem around the nightclub.
We work in harmony with large and true professionals with whom we get along perfectly. I also played fair with regard to the economic benefit to the plate with the creation of a forty jobs and financial returns of 15% of gross gaming revenue in the municipal budget that will enable us to continue to invest in our policy of diversification. The full operation of the casino will also give rise in the coming months of private investment in the field of accommodation and hotel, camping or even quality. We also have other tracks in the area of ??thermo-playfulness, in partnership with the tourist board, training, with a record of European university professions, a new family home and the rural sector wood, or an institute of nursing education open to neighboring countries and those in the Third World.
The casino offers in this context, an undoubted more prospective students as well as tourism that we head on to ensure the prosperity of the resort, and more generally across the plateau d’Hauteville, located one hour from road of major regional cities, which is a definite asset. ”

“Good news for Trade
Drhouin Jacques, president of the union and commercial craft is enthusiastic: “This is good news that authorization is impatiently waiting, and I am very optimistic for the future operation of the Casino to me based on a comparison with that of Lons -le-Saunier where my brother is a store. Compared with the influx of potential customers, he will see if people do come here to play or if they just spend the day at the station. We have already anticipated, improving the quality of care and beautifying our windows and we need to think about a possible opening on Sunday. It seems obvious that the lack of a hotel resort near mid-range customer satisfaction. As for financial benefits for the town, it seems important to invest on top rather than on the bottom, because the quality of the home environment will be critical to the future. “

Having decided to put the casino in municipal management, the mayor of Amnéville can win a jackpot of 15 million per year. But he plays alone against all and do not have all the cards. The master key is in the hands of Sarkozy.

The city council took its Amnéville mayor, he voted to terminate the concession contract for the casino Group Tranchant and decided to create a board of municipal management (see RL on January 23). “It is within the discretion of Commons to choose the method of managing a public service activity: either it delegates this service, it takes care of itself. That’s what we did and I will not return step back, “said Jean Kiffer. His firm is supported by a 2001 decree which clarifies the role of municipal utilities and the conclusions to which it licensed lawyers were asked to examine the texts under the microscope. Nothing a priori no reason why the common Amnéville directly operates the gambling establishment and pockets, in addition to the dividend that is his by right, the EUR 15 million annual operating surplus of rooms games. “I can not believe that the Prefecture, for example, does not embrace the objectives of general interest to a community that wants such an experience and will inject EUR15 million into the economy Lorraine,” says the mayor.

Experience? It is one indeed. Because unlike our European neighbors in Holland or Saar (with which Amnéville also wants to sign a cooperation agreement) there is not, in France, an example of a casino operated by the public. And that’s where the shoe pinches, where opponents of Jean Kiffer can regain control.

“Otherwise, it closes”

Dismiss a casino operator, “because it only takes money and invests nothing in common, because he did not complete the hotel in the contract and left the state wart on the landscape site spa “is one thing.

Give the eyes of the powerful companies that manage casinotières wheels of France and Navarre, the “bad example” to other municipalities, is another. “I have nothing against the casino operator who invest for the good of the cities where they are located” defends John Kiffer. But he immediately adds: “That does not count on me for any compromise. The town did not yield to the power mafia.” And again: “At the moment the casino companies are almost all represented on the stock market and thus serve to fuel the U.S. pension funds, is not it better that money to serve our casino Lorraine?”

The answer is not for the mayor of Amneville. It is in the hands of Nicolas Sarkozy. Giving the municipal control authority of games, without which there is no casino within the discretion of the Minister of Interior. Jean Kiffer, during a second interview at the Ministry, will try next week to convince the minister’s staff on the merits of his approach. And if the answer is still negative? “If the State refuses permission to games, the casino closed.

61% of gamers are over 35 years.
51% are women.
30% play at least once a week.
36% do not play with horse racing or casino games.
Their favorite games are and Lotto Millionaire.

Gambling: breakdown of turnover in 2002.
Slots: 51.2%
French games: 23.7%
PMU (horse racing): 20.7%
Casinos – Tables: 4.7%

EUR 121.6
This is the average bet per year per capita in France in draw games and scratch cards. Which puts the French in the bottom. The Spaniard, who plays an average of 247.9 euros, is the gambler in Europe. The British, he, putting 125.4 euros.

What is the French game?
It is a mixed enterprise company whose capital is owned 72% by the state. It enjoys a monopoly of public order established by the legislature for the organization and operation of lotteries and sports betting.

$ 363 million were won during the famous Powerball in May 2000 in the United States. This is the world record of earnings.

HOUSES OF THE GAME The face-to-face two European giants

Who would have thought? Switzerland, a country still prohibits gambling three years ago, is now a battleground for the two European giants. Issue: Wallis and casinos, including Zermatt (closed since Christmas), and Saxon, who had to stop its operations in June 2002 and lay off its 72 employees, had not obtained federal grant. Bern had preferred Montana and Zermatt, “casinos mountain” instead of that of the Rhone Valley, in Saxon, a “casino town.”

But the wheel turns and the losers of yesterday could well be tomorrow’s winners. Belonging to the bourgeoisie and Zermatt, for fourth at the Saarland Spielbank, a German bank, Casino Zermatt has not reopened its doors at Christmas (“Sunday Morning” January 4). The president of the civic community, Andreas Biner, seeking a buyer since then with strong nerves. He turned naturally to the two French giants, the group Lucien Barriere and the group Partouche , the two European leaders.

Hocus-pocus?
The group Partouche , who was still number one in Europe a month ago before being overtaken by its competitor Barrier, declined the offer for a good reason. After opening the Casino du Lac Meyrin last July, Isidore Partouche has reinvested funds into the Casino de Saxon, believed to be condemned forever, however. The operation was combined with the purchase of the Hotel du Parc, Martigny (VS) through a takeover bid for the European Company of Casinos. Partouche even pays 200,000 francs a year for only meeting of the venerable building dating of 1861, told the president of the Casino du Lac, the lawyer-notary Albert Nussbaumer Fribourg, the Tribune de Genève.

A member of Valais, Laurent Leger, want to raise the issue on the green policy and has filed an inquiry on the Grand Council of Valais. According to him it would suffice to transfer the operating license of Zermatt Zermatt Saxon if the casino does not fulfill the legal requirements. An opinion not shared by Me Nussbaumer: “Every franchise application meets specific criteria. With or without Zermatt, Saxon is perfectly viable for us. ”

Lower Valais cons of Upper Valais? The hocus-pocus, however, requires the agreement of the home front: “As soon as 5% of the share capital of a gaming house changes hands, we have our say,” says Jean-Marie Jordan, the new Director of the Secretariat of the Federal Commission of games. “The concessions were granted for five years in 2001, it was not until 2006 that the Federal Council shall review the situation.”

Appetite Barrier
Meanwhile, to avoid seeing the scales tip in favor of too Partouche , Gates explores the acquisition of Casino Zermatt or 25% in German hands. Zermatt reopening its doors, the chances of Saxon would drop a notch.

The issue is hot in Paris. The chairman of Groupe Barrière , Dominique Desseigne, does not decide within a fortnight. A reorganization of casinos in Switzerland Barrier is in the air. With the acquisition of Accor Casinos in January, a group of three gambling houses belonging to him now: Montreux and its large tables alongside Freiburg Courendlin (JU). And perhaps soon Zermatt for four aces?

Indeed casino · With the opening of the casino in Montreux, the Swiss Riviera on the presence of the stars of the Hexagon is always visible. Hoteliers are also doing their facelift. Many institutions have been changing lately.

Upon landing on the Swiss Riviera is still fresh in our memories. And for good reason. In July 2003, Bernard Tapie stays Biotonus clinic in Montreux. We see it everywhere, the blazing golden boy of the Mitterrand years, now converted into cinema: on the docks at nearby casino where “rampant” another of his compatriots, the former junkyard owner and former Servette FC Michel Coencas. This, they say, is one of the shareholders of the financial company that controls the Pegasus Grand Hotel Excelsior Nest Biotonus. But it is also a friend of Bernard Tapie which he co-produced the play “Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
It does not need more to fuel the fantasies of financial circles of France and Navarre. The former owner of Olympique Marseille he covet the four-star Montreux? Such an operation it foreshadow a new move real estate? Yet Bernard Tapie, who has seen the bankruptcy, said he was penniless. How would he, the devil, to complete a financial transaction of this magnitude?

Shock wave
Under cover of anonymity, an actor tourism in the region believes it can rule out this possibility. “To my knowledge, Mr. Tapie has not taken a stake in Biotonus. But one thing is for sure, starting from the Casino Barrière in Montreux, February 2003, caused a small shock wave here. ”
And align it with the journalist’s notebook institutions have experienced changes over the past months and weeks, a sign that something is happening. Golf, the Eurotel, Swiss Majestic and the Montreux Palace in Montreux, Le Mirador Mont Pelerin: all these pearls have undergone a facelift or having a boss, often young, in place of another. The Rene Capt (Gulf Hotel), Guy Lindt (Eurotel), Eric Favre (Viewpoint), Jean-Philippe Scalbert (Grand Hotel Excelsior), Michael Smithuis (Montreux Palace) and others Andres Oppenheim (Majestic) belong to this new generation of hoteliers trained at the best schools. They come in the wake of investors willing to inject new blood into tourism infrastructure of the Riviera. A trend that does not spare Vevey. Among the targets of potential buyers do not speak does not seriously today is the Eden and Three Crowns?

“All behind Kerry!”
The Riviera is all beautiful and the French hosts, in any case, the bait, which, like the television host Guillaume Durand or queen of the jet-set Caroline Barclay, down more or less regularly in a four Montreux or five stars. They contribute to shiver their way to a traumatized area after the collapse of the World Trade Center and the Asian flu epidemic, as it is true that travelers, especially Americans, always deserting traditional circuits. Last year, it’s a drop from 30 to 35% of registered overnights What some luxury hotels.
So much so that today there is not much of hospitality professionals to want to bet again on the chances of George W. Bush to succeed himself as president of the United States. Villeneuve to Geneva, the world tourism seems to agree with the motto: “All behind the Democrat Kerry!”.

Moselle, Mayor battle over the past ten years to get their hands on the group’s flagship Edge … and its revenues.

On the one hand, Jean Kiffer Mayor Amnéville Moselle. On the other, Georges Tranchant , CEO of the same name, which owns 18 casinos in France. Including Amneville, the flagship of the group. Between the two men, nothing is wrong. This is not new. “Even ten years Tranchant bored, “choked the mayor. So to solve his problem, Jean Kiffer had an idea: cancel the concession granted to the group in 1988 Edge and create a municipal authority to take orders and collect revenues from the casino (see below). If the case proceeds, it would of never-seen.

Poisoned. Accusations and names flies coming from all directions. Like the trial, both parties have the habit of wearing their disputes in court. “In total, 27 procedures, maybe even 30! It is three cubic meters of records! “Calculates Georges Tranchant . The latest developments? On Tuesday, some of the litigation brought by the group Tranchant and the prefecture of Moselle against decisions of the council of Amnéville were reviewed by the Administrative Court of Strasbourg. The case is so complex that the clerk it is lost. The judgments will be made March 23. To get an idea of ??the interminable legal battle, it is best to visit the sites where the two men explain their points of view (1). Otherwise, the key is how it all started in 1993-1994 due to a hotel connected to casino: Four stars, four-story, remained at the stage of structural work. Kiffer and Tranchant blame them. 1994, was also the year of installation of slot machines at the casino. Revenues have soared … At the time, Jean Kiffer already wanted to get rid of the group Edge . The dispute escalated to the point that the casino had to close its doors for a few months in 1995.

Jean Kiffer, 68, is a colorful character. He won the town hall in 1965 and has not left since. He is right, “but independent,” he says. Example in the legislative 2002: UMP nomination, support the National Front between the two towers and defeat under the label RPF to finish. On his desk a dozen replicas of construction equipment. “I have fun in my life for yards,” he confesses. Bulimia constructively seized in the 70s. To satisfy it, he did not always embarrassed by the law. It began with an Olympic pool and a skating rink. Then with an accreditation and spa tourism. The casino has followed. Today, the old mining town of 9,461 residents into account, inter alia, 15 000 patients a year, an 18 hole golf course (for which the regional audit counted no fewer than 50 legal proceedings), a zoo, a huge concert hall, a toboggan rests on a former slag dump pit and soon a indoor ski slope. Everything is located on a hill and generates more than 1000 direct jobs. “I created an empire!” Welcomes Dr. Kiffer. It’s not over. “There, he says, pointing to the top of the heap, I’ll build a castle hotel, kind of an eagle nest. And I’ll finish the hotel Edge . Soon, everything here will be flashy. As in Las Vegas! ”

“Colossal”. To finance these projects, the mayor is counting on the windfall that would bring a municipal authority responsible for managing the casino. In 2002-2003, he was ranked 8th nationally, with gross gaming revenue (the difference between being and gains) of 53.9 million euros. Jean Kiffer estimated operating surplus of 15 million euros. Solely through the fee on games, half of that amount already ends in the city treasury. “But 15 million is huge! With that, I create dozens of jobs, “Mayor dream. Before we create, it could well be deleted. The group Edge is indeed meant to vacate the premises on 1 July (under the decision to terminate the lease of City Council), with or without municipal governance to succeed him. The casino operator does not hear well. He recalled the close of 1995 and accuses the mayor of playing with the employment of 150 employees of the casino, “Kiffer amuse the gallery with his bullshit routine that will never see the day. His whim is to eliminate Edge . No matter the consequences for employees. “The mayor contends that if there were redundancies, it would” not [his] act “. He assured that ” Edge is already ancient history “and outlines plans. A: “I reinvested everything in place.” Two: “I pay a nominal entrance fee to control who enters the casino.” Three: “I encourage psychologists to deal with those that gambling makes them sick. “In the end, he said, if its proposed board is successful, it means” clarity, transparency and ethical standards “in the casino. “I throw a stone into the pond, he said, but it should still be able to make cultural revolutions in this country!”

1) Edge . com “> www.georges- Edge . com and www.jean-kiffer.com (the latter is closed for cantonal elections).

PARIS, Feb. 24 (Reuters) – Bertrand Delanoe on Tuesday expressed his “firm opposition” to the establishment of a casino in Paris in response to the proposal of an elected UMP to create a home game at the Palais Brongniart.

The mayor of Paris said that the City owns the building operated under an agreement dating from 1999 by Euronext Paris, former French Society of scholarships, but abandoned in favor of an electronic system.

This agreement for a term of 10 years expiring in August 2009, that is to say beyond the term of the current term, “said a statement.

“Bertrand Delanoe wants to express its unequivocal opposition to the establishment of a casino in Paris. Indeed, rather than what type of activity, the development of our city involves a real cultural and economic dynamics,” it added.

The mysterious disappearance of Agnes Le Roux, war-related casinos in the late 1970s on the Riviera, will be discussed Thursday by the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en- Provence, in camera, shall decide on a possible return to the foundations of her lover, a former lawyer of the Bar of Nice.
Agnes Le Roux, heir to the palaces of the Mediterranean has never been found since he disappeared Oct. 30, 1977 at the age of 29. The police investigation and the various court proceedings, three judges assigned to successive, have not hitherto provided a partial solution.
Only new element: January 24 last, the original parts and sealing the file that had disappeared, were found on a shelf in the courthouse in Aix, among cases already filed. This discovery could lead the substitute, Anne-Marie Baudron, to solicit additional information, it was said a judicial source.
After the death of her father, Agnes Le Roux was opposed to the maintenance of his mother as head of the Palais de la Mediterranee and had sold his shares to Jean-Dominique Fratoni, the owner of Ruhl, another casino from the Promenade Englishmen.

It is her lover, Jean-Maurice Agnelet, then a lawyer practicing in Manchester, who had served as an intermediary.
Fratoni, who died in 1994, thanks to become the majority share of the young woman, had seized the palaces of the Mediterranean in a transaction that has never been legally challenged.
rebound
The investigation into the disappearance of the young woman quickly focused on Agnelet. A sum of 365,877 euros paid by Fratoni, was filed in the first instance on a joint account on behalf of the two lovers in Geneva. The money was later found on another account, open this time on behalf of Agnelet with a proxy to Françoise Lausseure, another of his mistresses, and then to an account which he was the sole owner.
Lamb in 1985 was sentenced to two years in prison for embezzlement and disbarred for life from practicing in Nice. However, he received a dismissal on its responsibility in the disappearance of Agnes Le Roux.
Fifteen years later, the case bounced Françoise Lausseure who had provided an alibi Agnelet saying they were together in Switzerland at the time of the disappearance of Agnes Le Roux, retracted twice.
“It was not with me at the Hotel de la Paix. I gave this false testimony for him to serve at its urging,” she said.
After the opening of a new criminal procedure, Agnelet was indicted in December 2000 for “murder and false imprisonment” and allowed free under judicial supervision. He denies responsibility for the disappearance of the young woman.
Renee Le Roux, 82, mother of Agnes, driven from the palace of the Mediterranean and plaintiff, said he instead convinced of the guilt of a man she had hired to advise against the offensive Fratoni .

Partouche to open the fourth Thursday of the gaming establishment Morbihan Morbihan strengthens its profile Riviera of South Brittany, with the opening on Thursday at La Trinité-sur-Mer, a fourth casino. Gaming establishments that bring together the tourism landscape. “The spirit of the group Partouche is recognition of the specificity of each institution depending on its environment. Each approach is very personalized, “says Alain Lange, general manager of Grand Casino SA of La Trinite-sur-Mer, on the eve of the opening of this new gaming facility. Four years after joining this group, the former head of cultural services and international relations in the city of Lorient, and the consular service, welcomes this dynamic, allowing him to prepare another opening in the Cotes d’Armor and a third in Charente-Maritime. After seeing, for reasons of land, and infrastructure, the project Retoque twice higher commission games, Alain Lange Trinitaine with the municipality, has been successful “in defending a concept and a state of spirit. ” Trinity will not open with only one game, the ball 2000, other tables being deliberately abandoned to prefer the creation of an “atmosphere of the club, a place where people gather, with a bar, live entertainment, a restaurant with 40 seats between beer and cuisine, an exhibition space dedicated to contemporary art. Atmosphere for customers of sailors who want to relax in a place of comfort, but without the tie. And with the opportunity to play. ” Twenty-five people recruited and trained Twenty-five people, 90% recruited in the department with the ANPE d’Auray, have benefited from training with the assistance of the logistics group. In the landscape of the game, Partouche (fifty-three casinos) but hears not play small. For this opening, he invested 2.3 million euros, and expects, within a year, make an application to operate fifty slot machines, hoping to double again this park. The casino now complementary to those of Carnac and Quiberon, thus gradually become a rival. For this market, coveted by municipalities who receive dividends comfortable, is surging: Carnac Accor has 50 slots and hopefully much more, Quiberon, independent establishment, has 70 in and 30 others sought, arzon (Moliflor) has a fleet of 50 machines and is considering a new folder.