Online Casino, casinos

Dominique Desseigne: Profile of a great name of the casino world
 
Dominique Desseigne is to casinos what Bernard Arnault is to the world of luxury goods: simply a great name, known throughout the world. From his 1.91 metre height, Dominique Desseigne is at the head of an empire of casinos most of which are located in France: the Groupe Barrière. Desseigne runs the largest family group of casinos and luxury hotels in Europe. The Groupe Barrière’s turnover is dizzying: this former professional civil law notary controls almost 30% of the gaming market in France with 39 casinos (France, Switzerland, Malta, Egypt and Belgium (ed.)), 6,287 slot machines and 404 gaming tables. The group’s figurehead is the highest-ranking casino in France, that of Enghien-les-Bains, which is far ahead of the other casinos, notably the second most important belonging to the Partouche group:  the Pasino of Aix-en-Provence.

The Groupe Barrière possesses an exceptional portfolio of hotels: 15 Luxury Hotels established from Cannes (Hôtel Majestic) to Deauville, via Paris (Fouquet's Barriere's) and Dinard, and 90 restaurants located all over France. Three golf courses complete the range of this French empire’s assets.

The Groupe Barrière employs 8,000 people throughout the world, including all of its businessactivities. The Barrière family is the majority shareholder and possesses 51% of the shares, the Accor group 34% since 2004 and the Colony Capital investment fund 15%. As a matter of interest, Colony Capital is at the head of numerous casinos in the United-States and also owns the Buffalo Grill chain of restaurants and has bought up the Paris Saint Germain Football Club.

But behind this big name in French casinos is hidden one man, Dominique Desseigne, whose destiny was not intended for casinos but for the world of law. We will see in this special report who Dominique Desseigne is, his career path, and how he has managed to take the helm of this french casino empire with such success.

Dominique Desseigne’s story begins on the dancefloor of a very selective nightclub “Chez Regine”. A ladies’ man with blue eyes and an attractive physique, Desseigne bumps into Diane Barrière whose father is the owner of several casinos. Diane Barrière is 27 years younger than him and the two love birds decide to get married on 7th April 1984. Before this love match, Desseigne had acquired an impressive collection of hunting trophies: one of the Bouygues sisters, a Darty daughter and even a Hersant heiress. His heart beat for the casino heiress, sports-lover and tennis enthusiast like himself.

Engaged, the beginnings of this union were somewhat difficult due to the test to which the casinos patriarch, Lucien Barrière, subjected his future son-in-law. The former was determined to ensure that his daughter married well and Desseigne had to undergo a real obstacle course. Married, they lived at Neuilly, Diane didn’t work and Dominique practiced as a notary The couple had two children, Alexandre and Joy, and Lucien Barrière managed his empire alone.

Dominique Desseigne was destined to work in the legal domain, after studying law at the Panthéon-Sorbonne University. In 1980, he bought a practice near the Boulevard Saint-Germain and his father, Paul Desseigne, was delighted with his son’s future prospects. In 1990, Lucien Barrière’s daughter found herself at the head of the Barrière Empire following the patriarch’s death during a minor surgical operation. At 33, Diane was thrown into the group’s management and to the head of an incalculable fortune. Diane dedicated herself 100% to these new responsibilities and the couple began to become somewhat distant. In 1995, Diane spent her holidays on the French Riviera and left Saint Tropez by plane. She started towards La Baule to rejoin her family. The plane crashed in the Marais Poitevin marshes. Diane survived the crash, which happened because the plane ran out of fuel, thanks to two witnesses who pulled her from the burning plane in the nick of time. Life would never be the same for this sparkling and active woman, who had been burned all over her body and had become paraplegic.

On 18th May 2001, after several years of suffering, Diane Desseigne-Barrière died. Dominique Desseigne found himself under the spotlights and became managing director of Groupe Barrière. The professional jurist had no other choice than to transform himself into a manager to direct such a large business formation. At the beginning the chap had difficulties with the existing management , which had prior assumptions about this man whom they considered to be “Diane’s husband but not their boss”. He surrounded himself with a sound team and underwent intensive training to cure his shyness. His shortcomings in the domains of management were quicky overcome by professionals. Often brusque, cold and aggresive, his style of management mellowed in time, with experience acquired over decades. All of the targets he set have been attained and the group has been able to progress thanks to his multiple abilities and his intelligence. The turnover has literally taken off since he took control of the group and has reached 1.2 billion euros, that is five times more than in 1996.

This relentless worker never rests and is constantly on the alert even when travelling. Whether he is at Courchevel, in Sardinia or Mauritius, Desseigne observes and compares in order to apply the methods in his own hotels. His work obliges him to be in the limelight, whether at the Deauville American Film Festival, at the MIDEM or the MIPIM at Cannes, Dominique Desseigne is at the forefront playing the “Public Relations” card. His address book is exceptional in the showbusiness world, whether in films, the world of politics, music, etc. His well filled addressbook is not limited to France but covers the entire world: Asia, the United States and the Middle East.

His friendship with the Head of State, Nicholas Sarkozy, is longstanding. They met at Neuilly and the former First Lady of France was a childhood friend of Diane Barrière-Desseigne. Moreover, the former presidential couple stayed in the Groupe Barrière’s hotels, particularly the Majestic and the Hermitage at La Baule. This longstanding friendship was confirmed by the honour that the President paid him, on the evening of his victory, by dining in the prestigious Fouquet’s (property of Groupe Barrière ed.) on the Champs-Elysées.

Groupe Barrière has a new challenge to meet: to establish itself on the online games scene. Physical casinos suffer from the laws established to protect minors from gaming and to discourage those forbidden from entering casinos. Identity checks at their doors are making a heavy impact on the receipts of casinos, which have seen visitor numbers fall by 10%. Then, at the beginning of the year, the ban on smoking in public places only worsened the situation, since the number of visitors fell even further. The game of poker has been legalised by the Government, which is like a breath of oxygen for French physical casinos. Thus, the Groupe Barrière intends to win the stakes by offering the Barrière Poker Tour, which has started casting its shadow over its competitor, the Partouche Poker Tour. A large number of the Group Barrière’s casinos are introducing players to Texas Hold’em Poker and tables are opening one after the other. Success is forthcoming.

Online casinos offer a unique opportunity to attract online casino players into the Groupe Barrière’s virtual casino.  All the more so since the online games market is about to open up in 2009, according to the Durieux report for the French Ministry of the Interior. This report’s black mark is the prohibition on French casinos from offering slot machine games. One-armed bandits are the French publics’ most loved games, games from which players will be barred on the grounds that they quickly become addicted. The number of online casino players in France is estimated at close to a million, playing in virtual casinos.  

The Barrière group is already on the starting blocks, in order to be prepared on D-Day. MKO Games is already working on the online casino’s design. The latter will be different from what is currently available, because the player will be able to choose the land-based casino in which he wants to play. Thus, a player who chooses to play in the Enghien-les-Bains casino will be completely plunged into a décor close to that of the real casino. The group already has a licence for gaming operations at Malta and will be able to offer French players the possibility of staking play money. The pratice mode will offer players the possibility of betting in casino games without using real money. The real mode will be available once the Government has given the green light and legalised online gaming. While attending the French Government’pleasure, the Barrière Group is focusing on the international markets, particularly the English market. The Barrière group has quite a distance to go in order to catch up with its eternal rival, the Partouche group, which has just announced the launch of a sports betting web site for the opening of Euro 2008. Eric Cantona, emblematic figure of the Partouche group, will use his image to make this new virtual sports betting website known to the French public. However, the Barrière group hasn’t had its last word. Dominique Desseigne has taken up every challenge and this strapping lad – who has faced so many difficult tests in his life – won’t be frightened by this latest contest.

Dominique Desseigne’s other dream is for his children to be able to take over the reins of the Barrière empire. His children are still a little young to decide their future. Alexander, 21, and Joy, 17, still have plenty of time ahead of them for deciding whether they want to follow in daddy’s or grand fathers’ footsteps.

Will this French success story, worthy of a Hollywood film, continue to fascinate us over the coming decades? To be continued.

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