Brussels casino given extension to prevent closure in December

The licence for the Brussels-City casino was due to expire at the end of this year, but will be extended by six months as the issue regarding the tender for the next operator continues to be worked out.

“This is a one-off extension,” said Sihame Makrache, spokesperson for current-operator Viage. “The intention is for the city to use this time to get its administrative affairs in order.”

The City of Brussels awarded the concession for the next 15 years of the casino’s operations to ECK, the parent company of Napoleon Games. 

But the Council of State struck down the arrangement back in August, in part because the promise to relocate ECK’s online gaming servers to Brussels was not mentioned anywhere in the tender specifications as a criterion.

The government also faced criticism for mayor Philippe Close (PS)’s involvement with the dossier despite his role on the board of directors for Anderlecht football club, which has Napoleon Games as one of its major sponsors.

The City of Brussels could now provide a better justification for its decision to award the licence to ECK, reassess it or launch an entirely new tender process, but has not yet decided on a course of action.

In the meantime, it is extending the concession granted to operator Viage by six months, subject to the current terms and conditions and at a cost of €2.3 million per half-year.

Makrache said that the six-month extension for Viage, which employs 286 people in Brussels, was not ideal.

“Our contracts with the 497 suppliers now suddenly have to be extended at rates that are not always favourable,” Makrache said. 

“Certainty for the staff is the only reason why we have agreed to this. Ideally, that agreement in principle will be signed by the end of this month. Once that agreement is signed, we will still need to apply for a licence from the Gaming Commission.” 

Viage hopes that clarity will soon be provided regarding the procedure the City of Brussels will follow. 

According to La Libre, the city is still awaiting advice from the European Commission. 

Apart from Viage, not a single candidate had provided transparency regarding the origin of any foreign funding, as the City of Brussels had omitted to mention this in the public tender. However, the European Commission requires this.

Bidders were able to resubmit their applications for the concession and were given time to provide this financial transparency after all. At present, it is unclear how many bidders have done so and are therefore still in the running. 

Councillor Nawal Ben Hamou (PS), who took over the dossier from mayor Philippe Close (PS), declined to comment on the matter.

The European Commission had initially set a deadline of 28 October for its opinion, but has now extended this to 15 November.

Napoleon Games welcomed the announced six-month extension of the casino concession. 

“The most important thing at the moment is the approximately 300 employees at the Brussels casino - this extension offers them continuity, and we are genuinely pleased about that,” said Philippe Joos, managing director, adding that he remains confident a fair solution will be reached.

“This extra time provides the opportunity to carefully examine the various bids.”