The CEO is willing to forge a partnership with a specialist in internet gambling. But his primary concern today is the attendance rate of its luxury hotels.

Given the absence of legislation on online games, challenge the Interior Ministry was able to do as the group Partouche is there a solution?

Regulators will be forced to act! It’s good to prohibit, but must still be effective. However, it is clear that there are many sites, based in the Bahamas for example, and accessible from the ground hex. However, everyone is free to act as he sees fit.

For now, we preferred to introduce an initiation site, which focuses more on customer relations. Since launching in March of online games – free initial bet – we recorded 15,000 visits.

We also study the true market potential of a virtual casino, so be ready as soon as there is a regulation of online gambling in France. Dismiss our brand or develop a partnership can be an attractive opportunity for a specialist Internet games, which can then benefit from the quality image of the Barrier Group .

Have you made contact? The exchanges took place remained unanswered. But the phone is there. Do not you fear to phagocytose activity by creating your casino games online?

Exits to be phagocytosed, I prefer to find alternatives to activities lost. But again, the answer is for the authorities. Legalization is required for online play, although I do not believe in forecasts astronomical [Informa Media Group estimates that some € 16.4 billion global revenues for online games in 2006, note].

Your hotels rarely offer internet access …

Le Fouquet’s Barriere is the very forefront of new technologies. But in other hotels we have, indeed, room for improvement. International clients, including Americans age group 18-20 years, is very sensitive to this type of equipment. It is possible to book all hotels online, and the goal is that this service represents 5% of turnover in a full year. Today we are pleased with the startup of this service, as 80% of its users are new customers.

You are about to meet in one group your three entities: Hotel Company chain Lucien Barriere , the Society of hotels and casino of Deauville and the Company’s farm Casino City Cannes – both listed on the First Market. Minority shareholders are they all agree?

This operation demanded by the market and all the minority, long time. By consolidating our three entities, we display far greater equity. This addition also provides the best presentation to the authorities. Given some technical problems, however, we requested an extension: the new assembly should be listed on the Second Market on September 15 with about 10% float. Our aim is then to pass the First Market.

What are your priorities for development within three years?

First, ensure Enghien become the best and the first casino in France and probably Europe. At the opening of the 130 slot machines, 8 April, the number of clients per day reached 2000 to stabilize at 500 today. We study how to regulate, and adapt the criteria of access, such as the right of entry or dress requirements. Another major project: the Palace Fouquet’s Barrière, which should occupy five buildings at the junction of three avenues Champs Elysees and George V-Quentin-Bauchart. This will be the first creation of a Parisian palace in the hands of a French family for 70 years. We obtained the building permit, and embark upon the stage of the liberation of occupied spaces. Which can be time consuming. Other operations should also be achieved as the casino in Montreux, construction of a palace in Marrakech, and finally the establishment of a complex in Spain, which is more difficult.

What is the occupancy rate of hotels?

Since the events of 11 September and the stock market crash, we recorded a decline in our activity. The occupancy rate currently stands at 66.5%. In May-June, many companies have canceled their seminars and conventions. July and August will be decisive, even if it is too early to comment on the trend.

Jean-Jerome and Valerie Bertolus Quélier, Le Nouvel Hebdo

Deauville a dealer and his accomplice, according to prosecutors of Lisieux, was placed in custody for an attempted fraud in Stud Poker.

Identified by the system of video surveillance, two individuals were arrested Thursday night around 22:30.

An employee of the gaming establishment and his accomplice are suspected of attempted fraud in Stud Poker. The two accomplices allegedly operated out of an issue of 1000 euro can bring them an amount 200 times. If both custody are held in local police station of Deauville, the investigation is conducted by the Central Board of races and games, under General Information.

In Vichy, the group Partouche opened a second casino in downtown. The new facility will become a reality before the end of the year.

Located inside the mall’s Four-Ways, opened last May in the center of Vichy, the new casino is ultimately a move from the current establishment of the Elysee Palace, 50 meters from new location. Compared to the old site, the gaming establishment will benefit from additional services: a brewery, restaurant and an auditorium. “We inauguererons the complete package, says one group Partouche , retaining the existing 46 slots (we begin a process to get to 70) the ball, great games, but by removing the nightclub and the point race. ” The amount of investment is currently confidential, but the new facility will create additional jobs through the restaurant and brewery. Cinemas should also be attached to the structure (8 rooms and 1000 seats) on condition that adjusts a legal dispute between the city of Vichy, the group of casinos and the operator of the other local venues. The new game site will open the same hours as the previous one, and its development should not significantly change the habits of his regular customers. Partouche owns another casino in Vichy, the Grand Café, which will continue to operate at the identical.

PARIS (AFP) – Daniel Léandri, a former collaborator of Charles Pasqua, was indicted Thursday on Monday said a source close the file, for complicity in the corruption investigation into the conditions of purchase and resale of the casino Annemasse (Haute-Savoie).

This former police officer, who is also indicted in the Elf affair, was a close associate of Pasqua when he was interior minister from 1986 to 1988 and from 1993 to 1995.

Opened in 1994, Annemasse casino was sold less than a year later by Robert Feliciaggi, indicted in this case, for 15.3 million euros. In April 1994, Pasqua had authorized the operation of the institution by Feliciaggi, despite several negative opinions of the Higher Commission of games (SCJ).

The three judges in charge of the investigation into campaign finance Pasqua 1999 European elections are questioning a possible link between the financing of this campaign and profits from the sale of the property. If the suspicions of corruption is checked, the judges should defer to the benefit of the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), the sole authority to investigate possible crimes committed by a minister in the exercise of its functions .

Asked in late May on the case, Pasqua was felt that the judge Philippe Courroye, one of three judges handling the case, instructed “only dependent”. “Everything was done in a biased manner, with a specific purpose: to try, by all means, get me ‘,” he said.

The group Partouche , Losc partner, the club Lille, could support a second professional football team. If you believe the information concur that the AS Cannes that could benefit from the partnership of the leading company in the field of casinos in France. The group has in effect established the Savoy Hotel, but also the casino and the Carlton Palm Beach. But the rumor comes from the fact that WND sport now handles the communication of the club on the Croisette. Now this company is owned by Luc Dayan, chairman of Losc and close Partouche . Marcel Salerno, the president of AS Cannes, has also revealed in an interview that contacts have already taken place, before adding “it said, Mr Partouche looks much closer to our situation for some time.

The simplified structures of the family group of luxury hotels and casinos Lucien Barrière will take a little longer than expected, due to a request from the Commission des Operations de Bourse (COB), shifting towards the autumn listing the Second Marché of Euronext Paris, which was proposed in mid-August, the company said Friday.

To simplify its structure, the Hotel Company chain Lucien Barriere (SHCLB, unlisted), wholly owned by the family fence-Desseigne, filed in June of exchange offers on two subsidiaries of the Company’s hotels and casinos Deauville (SHCD) and the Society of farm city casino in Cannes ( SFC TM), both listed on the Premier Marché of Euronext Paris. The group had made at the same time an application SHCLB shares on the Second Market of the Paris Stock Exchange, indicating that it could materialize in mid-August.

But the SEC has asked Lucien Barrière to acquire the trademark “Lucien Barrière” and its derivatives, the group said in a statement Friday. Experts registered at the Court of Appeal of Paris were responsible for determining the selling price of these brands, and fix the amount of royalties that these companies must pay to Lucien Barriere for the use of these marks, according to their transfer prices.

If at the expiry of 60 days allotted to them to accomplish their mission, the experts were unable to agree, a third expert would be appointed by the Tribunal de Commerce de Paris.

Pending the final determination of this price and royalties, Lucien Barriere asked the Conseil des Marchés Financiers (CMF) to defer consideration of the exchange offers, and the two subsidiaries and SHCD SFC ™ have requested the resumption of trading in their shares on the Premier Marché.

JEAN PEYRELEVADE was asked about the conditions under which Crédit Lyonnais sold a chain of casinos he owned. The cases do not end up poisoning the lives of leaders of the bank. Reportedly, the CEO of Credit Lyonnais was heard over three hours, Wednesday, June 26 at the premises of the financial police (XIII arrondissement). Jean Peyrelevade responded to a summons from police investigating the sale of a chain of casinos Breton businessman, Pierre Le Foll, in September 1996. In the years ninety, at the time Credit Lyonnais besides investing in all sectors of the economy, the bank Colbert, one of its subsidiaries sulphurous, decides to take an interest in games money. Several smaller casinos are being bought, especially in western France. When the new CEO arrives Lyonnais in November 1993, he discovered that the bank has eight gaming facilities, through a company called Emerald , itself owned by another company called Link and registered in Luxembourg. An assembly which, a priori, does not shine by its transparency. Especially, the bank has engulfed 140 million francs (21.3 million euros) in this adventure.

The bank wanted to leave this activity already seriously annoyed with the errors of the Credit Lyonnais in real estate and ski resorts, Jean Peyrelevade therefore requests that this activity be sold quickly. The Director for Financial Engineering at Credit Lyonnais, Simon Luel, is charged with finding a buyer quickly. It was he listed as manager of the Luxembourg company that owns casinos Link. In September 1996, eight gaming facilities are purchased by the businessman Pierre Le Foll amounting to 190 million francs (almost 29 million euros). Incidentally, the old part of Lyons who runs the shell Link collects a tidy salary estimated at 40 million francs (6.1 million). It is precisely this amount that triggered the complaint on which the police work. They have long questioned Jean Peyrelevade to see if he was aware of this issue. The CEO told investigators that he had merely ask that we sell these casinos, no interest in how the operation unfolded. A few days later, Simon Luel was heard in turn. Joined by our newspaper, he believes that “Credit Lyonnais could earn much more money had he not sold in the rush these casinos,” readily admits that the bank, estimated at 400 million francs TODAY ‘hui (nearly 61 million euros). But Lyon did not keep its heritage casinos. For the management of the bank, this case “is not one”: it is a “settling of accounts by a former Chief casino licensee” who alerted the court on this transaction “dated almost ten years. “

DEAUVILLE – Casino de Deauville (Calvados) normally has reopened its doors Tuesday morning after the fire was quickly extinguished that still Monday night forced the management to evacuate nearly 500 players and 250 employees.

The fire started between 18:30 and 18:45 in the administration office of slot machines located on the first floor and above the grand salon of Ambassadors.

Quickly arrived on the scene, firefighters had evacuated the players and staff and extinguished the fire.

Smoke and water lances have caused some damage but should not prevent the holding of the annual gala on Thursday night races and handing the whip to crack gold jockey Dominique Boeuf to be held in the grand salon of Ambassadors.

The Palm Beach dressed in gala

This time the chips are down. Two in 1500 people belonging to all of Paris on holiday towards the Croisette today to attend the super-gala will mark the reopening of the games at the Palm Beach, led by Patrick Partouche .

After ten years of closure, the famous French casino operator won by Nicolas Sarkozy authority to transfer traditional games and fifty slot machines at the Carlton Casino Club towards establishing mythical Pointe de la Croisette, refused twice group parr the previous interior ministers.

Welcoming the event a few days ago, the deputy mayor of Cannes, Bernard Brochant, expressed his joy and relief. He witnessed the crowning of “the fierce determination of its majority to reinstate the municipal law in all municipal records poisoned legacy of the previous municipalities.

And, consequently, “the revival of the Pointe de la Croisette”, which will be a new impetus at the Port Canto, a helipad as well as the sailing of Mourre Rouge port Pointe Croisette.

“It is now at the Palm Beach once again become a beacon that illuminates the entire city …” Bernard believes Brochand, including the deputy tourism and economic development, David Lisnar, went in person last June, to plead the case of the Paris hotel in Cannes in sleep before the High Commission of the games.

Besides favorably of the new government, it is primarily the transactional protocol signed last May between the condominium at Pointe Croisette and the group Partouche who helped end a long legal thriller blurs the least confused. Patrick Partouche , very smiling, in person yesterday oversaw the transfer of its facilities, table games and slot machines, the upper floors of the Carlton Palbeach to a few hundred meters away.

His record is really quite positive since he also obtained, but a reinforcement of his battalion of slot machines, at least leave the operating range of the dock and parking. “The Palm Beach has finished, I hope to eat his black punch,” said he. For the gala opening of Pal Beach, the 2500 guests will be the first to test the gaming tables and “bandits” during a gala evening on the theme of the 30s.

“I’ve been born at 13, notes Patrick Partouche . It is a figure that has always brought me happiness … “

NICE – The Pasteur Hospital in Nice this summer opened a consultation and care unit “gambling” for the care and treatment of compulsive gamblers.

Apart from an association “SOS players” located in Paris, this is the only service from Nice in France. It is headed by Professor Dominique Pringuey to clinical psychiatry and medical psychology of the Pasteur Hospital.

In collaboration with Dr. Yves Bistagnin, Psychiatrist specializing in phobias and obsessive, Professor Pringuey noticed that these players also destroying their unhealthy surroundings.

“These are the wives, wives or relatives of those players who have come to warn us,” said the psychiatrist, “people most unfortunate that every day we were more likely to call for help and we entrust their misfortune.”

For example, the woman at home where bailiffs arrived one day to recover the amount of the debts of her husband who had been caught in a trap at the beginning of the game if he had just won, he quickly had a lot lost, spent all his wages, had borrowed before entangled in inextricable lies with serious consequences for his private and professional life.

“These people are in a true state of dependence on the same basis as alcoholics, drug addicts or heavy smokers,” said Prof Pringuey, “and often, ultimately, it is justice which obliges them to treat Otherwise, they may find themselves under supervision. ”

3% OF THE POPULATION

“Their management is difficult but in 80% of cases it is successful,” says he, “what is complicated is that the pathological gambler is convinced he has the recipe for winning every time. And when he loses, it only needs to multiply its replay. ”

The therapeutic management of a pathological gambler is of the order of ten one-hour consultation.

It is first to make him understand that it is absolutely impossible to win by playing regularly and, secondly, when the patient denies the chance or claims he can control it, that his thinking is wrong.

Then comes a period of “detoxification” more concrete in which the player learns to reject a proposed game, a bit like a smoker being weaned learns to refuse a cigarette.

“It’s hard because the player is generally low and that he considers himself to be affected,” said Dr. Bistagnin, “and he often sees the casino as a kind of cocoon, a magical place and protected where it is known, recognized, where it lends money, as many small signs that value. ”

United States and France, although in the latter country there are no official statistics, the number of pathological gamblers is estimated at 3% of the population. A proportion may be higher in the Alpes-Maritimes is the largest number of casinos elsewhere in the country.