The Forges-les-Eaux licence of Groupe Partouche was extended for another year.

After local officials were unable to conduct a fresh tender due to the continuing coronavirus epidemic, French casino operator Groupe Partouche allegedly had the licence for its Grand Casino location in the tiny spa town of Forges-les-Eaux automatically extended by another year.

According to a story from G3Newswire published on Monday, the Paris-based company's Forges Hotel SA subsidiary was set to have the licence for the now-closed site in Normandy expire last October. The source explained that the community of about 4,000 people is eager to agree on a deal and see the entire business relocated to a much larger site, but the process to find a replacement operator has been repeatedly postponed due to the persistent presence of coronavirus.

Expensive licence requirement:

There are eleven gaming tables and roughly three hundred slot machines at the 119-year-old Grand Casino, which generated gross gaming income of about €33.5 million ($40.7 million) in 2019 and will allegedly leave the local community about €3 million ($3.6 million). Forges-les-Eaux, France, despite this windfall, reportedly hopes to pull in €670 million ($814.5 million) for a new 20-year licence that would require any operator to hand up €50,000 ($60,800) for 'tourism development' and pay a 15% tax on revenues exceeding €5 million ($6 million).

Prosperity afterward:

Groupe Partouche, operator of the Casino Palavas venue in the southern French coastal resort town of Palavas-les-Flots, allegedly received a 20-year renewal of its licence for the establishment. This modest establishment has an estimated €13.7 million ($16.6 million) in gross gaming revenues for 2019, and its present operator has been extended to the end of 2041. It features five gaming tables and one hundred slot machines.