Members-only clubs would have tables, no slots
The French government has turned thumbs down on a plan that would have brought legal casino resorts to the capital city of Paris. Instead, according to France 24, it will introduce “exclusive, London-style gambling clubs” to the City of Lights, and hopefully replace the city’s cercles de jeux, private gambling halls that have long been associated with mob activity.
Only two of the notorious cercles remain. The others were raided and closed down after allegations they were used to launder money for the Corsican mafia. In February, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve sought to fill the void and generate additional taxes for the state by exploring new ways to jumpstart the city’s gaming sector.
He appointed gaming commissioner Jean-Pierre Duport to study the issue;
Duport’s report recommended replacing the cercles de jeux with either full-scale casinos or “select,” members-only London-style gambling clubs, which would offer classic casino games but no slot machines.
The casino option could have generated €45.6 million (US$51.8 million) in tax revenues. “Paris is the only European capital without a casino, except Rome,” said Duport.
But local officials said “non.” Paris’s Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the proposal was not her “cup of tea.” Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, of the conservative Les Républicains party, said the government was pursuing the project “strictly for financial reasons.”
That left the gambling hall option. “The new project could be operational by the start of 2016,” the interior ministry said.
The new gambling clubs could open as early as 2016, according to sources.
