Walloon casinos struggling

During this period of global economic crisis, the industry of land-based casinos is struggling all over the world.
As we have often pointed out, this is the case in France, in Las Vegas and also in Atlantic City.
Even in Macau growth is declining.
The Belgian region of Wallonia does not represent an exception to this trend.
Indeed, the four casinos operating in the region are currently running a structural deficit.
Over the past six years, taxes have nearly doubled while the tips received by employees decreased by almost 50%.
In 2009, the casinos in Namur, Spa, Dinant and Chaudfontaine recorded a loss of €1.1 million, which increased to €1.5 million the following year and to €2.2 million in 2011.
At the same time, taxes on casinos have risen from €6.9 million in 2005 to €11.6 million in 2011.
By contrast, gratuities paid to employees have decreased from €8.1 to €4.6 million over the same period.
While the global economic crisis may partly explain the difficulties experienced by Walloon casinos, we must also mention the ban on smoking in public places and the competition of online gambling sites, which had been liberalized in 2011, as concurrent causes – as explained in this article.