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Un amendement vise à autoriser l’ouverture à la concurrence. Les casinotiers craignent pour leur avenir.

« Il n’y a eu strictement aucune concertation. Samedi, nous avons découvert avec stupéfaction un amendement du gouvernement, visant à autoriser le casino en ligne , raconte Philippe Bon, délégué général de Casinos de France (Groupe Barrière, Tranchant, Partouche, Joa…). Je comprends qu’il ait besoin de nouvelles recettes fiscales. Mais là, c’est une fausse bonne idée qui menace les casinos terrestres et les ressources fiscales des communes où ils sont implantés. » Légaliser le casino sur internet ? Aucun gouvernement n’avait osé, de peur de fragiliser toute une filière. Jusqu’à ce que tout bascule ce week-end.

Paris sportifs, hippiques et poker en ligne seuls autorisés

Depuis 2010 en effet, seuls les paris sportifs, hippiques et le poker en ligne sont autorisés par la loi. Très encadrés, ils sont aussi lourdement taxés. Les jeux de casinos sur internet, les plus addictifs, ont, eux, toujours été interdits, sans que paradoxalement les amateurs de roulette et machines à sous virtuelles n’en souffrent. À leurs risques et périls, ils peuvent jouer sur des centaines de sites frauduleux basés dans des paradis fiscaux. L’Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ) peine à les interdire.

Le fisc, lui, n’en voit pas la couleur, alors que le casino en ligne aurait généré jusqu’à 750 millions d’euros de chiffre d’affaires en 2023. Désespérément à la recherche d’argent frais pour réduire la dette publique, le gouvernement de Michel Barnier ne veut plus passer à côté. Dans son amendement, il est ainsi prévu que les jeux de casino en ligne (une fois régulés) seraient taxés en 2025 à 55,6 % de leur chiffre d’affaires - « c’est-à-dire au même niveau que la catégorie générale des jeux de loterie en ligne » -, dont la moitié irait dans les caisses de la Sécurité sociale et l’autre dans celles de l’État.

«Le but de cet amendement est d’assurer une réelle régulation des jeux de casino en ligne, ajoute-t-on à Matignon. L’offre ne cesse de croître. Le projet d’ouverture à la concurrence vise deux objectifs : assécher l’offre illégale (les fraudes et le blanchiment d’argent) et protéger la santé mentale de joueurs. » Abondante, cette offre illégale n’est pas sans risque. « Il n’existe aucune homologation des jeux utilisés, rendant la triche possible, les gains peuvent ne pas être payés, les mineurs ne sont pas protégés, les mises ne sont pas encadrées et le vol de données personnelles y est fréquent », selon l’exposé de l’amendement.

Concurrence

Pour autant, légaliser le casino en ligne, c’est provoquer un big bang sans précédent dans le marché des jeux d’argent en France. L’amendement précise que cette légalisation fera l’objet d’une ordonnance, qui sera prise dans les six mois, selon Matignon. D’ici là, les casinotiers vont tout faire pour que le projet ne voit pas le jour. Ils seraient les grands perdants d’une ouverture à la concurrence du casino en ligne, alors que les opérateurs en ligne, comme Betclic, en sortiraient gagnants. Tout comme la FDJ. L’opérateur de la loterie nationale vient de boucler le rachat du suédois Kindred, numéro un du casino en ligne en Europe.

Déjà ultra leader des jeux d’argent en France, l’entreprise dispose d’un savoir-faire unique pour lancer cette offre sur le marché français dès que possible. « Le gouvernement cède aux sirènes de certains acteurs, qui lui promettent de nouvelles recettes fiscales, déplore Grégory Rabuel, directeur général du groupe Barrière (33 établissements en France), en plus de présider Casinos de France. Sur le papier, la promesse semble belle. Mais elle revient à signer l’arrêt de mort des 65 plus petits casinos de France, dont la clientèle fait 30 km à 50 km en voiture pour venir. Et pour tous les casinos, elle représenterait une baisse d’activité de 20 % à 30 %, qui entraînerait 450 millions de recettes fiscales en moins pour l’État et les collectivités. »

15.000 suppressions d'emplois

Comme l’ensemble des casinotiers, il milite pour une ouverture du casino en ligne qui serait réservée aux seuls exploitants de casinos terrestres. « Nous le proposons depuis trois ans, rappelle le dirigeant. L’offre sur internet serait le miroir de l’offre terrestre. C’est le seul moyen de ne pas provoquer une hécatombe sociale. En l’état, l’amendement du gouvernement aurait des conséquences sociales dramatiques. On peut estimer que sur 45.000 emplois directs et indirects, les casinos en supprimeraient 15.000. »

De son côté, l’ANJ ne cesse de mettre en garde, depuis des mois, contre les risques d’une ouverture qui serait d’abord une affaire d’opportunité. « C’est une question complexe, dans la mesure où cette offre de casinos en ligne est particulièrement addictive, insiste Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, sa présidente. Il n’est pas non plus assuré que l’ouverture de cette nouvelle offre assèche automatiquement l’offre illégale ».

Les opposants à l’amendement seront-ils entendus par les parlementaires ? Le texte doit être examiné en séance cette semaine à l’Assemblée, puis plus tard au Sénat. En face d’eux, les casinotiers ont de fervents défenseurs de l’ouverture du casino en ligne. « La France est, avec Chypre, le seul pays de l’Union européenne à ne pas avoir régulé les jeux de casino en ligne, pointe Isabelle Djian, déléguée générale de l’Association française des jeux en ligne (Afjel). 74 % du produit brut des jeux des sites illégaux proviennent des joueurs excessifs, et les actions de politique publique ne fonctionnent pas pour bloquer ces sites. Nous sommes face à un problème massif de santé publique. »

Dwyane Wade is to guest edit the yet-to-be-named biannual magazine and digital platform, launching in spring 2025.

GOOD SPORTS: Fashion’s love affair with sports, which got hot and heavy during the 2024 Paris Games, is still going strong and even garnering dedicated publications.

Carine Roitfeld and her son Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, chief executive officer of CR Fashion Book, have tapped Dwyane Wade as inaugural guest editor of the yet-to-be-name venture launching in the first half of 2025.

It is to encompass a biannual magazine for men and woman and what CR describes as an “interdisciplinary platform” encompassing e-commerce, exclusive brand collaborations, capsule collections and merchandise drops from athletes and designers.

Content is expected to include exclusive interviews, essays that highlight the synergy between fashion icons and athletic legends, activewear trends, in-depth features on fashion-forward athletes, style tips from industry experts and insights into how sport continues to influence the world of high fashion.

“Fashion and sport are two powerful forms of expression that inspire millions around the globe,” Roitfeld said in a statement shared exclusively with WWD. “We aim to create a space that celebrates this fusion and showcases the unique stories that emerge when these worlds collide.”

Her son added: “Our goal is to create a fresh, bold and inspiring platform that builds a community of individuals who, like myself, are as passionate about sports as they are about fashion. This new vertical is a natural extension of CR, but with a twist that will appeal to a broader audience. We’re bringing together sports and style in a way that hasn’t been done before, creating a brand that transcends categories while offering something truly distinctive.”

Wade also appears on the cover of the latest edition of CR Men hitting newsstands on Monday along with the 25th issue of CR Fashion Book, themed “Love & Fantasies.”

In it, Wade comments: “Fashion became a big way for us, as athletes, to express ourselves.…I added color to my life. I was wearing pink pants and TNT smashed me for walking into the arena with pink pants.”

In his post NBA career, Wade has appeared in Versace underwear ads and sold off pieces of his designer wardrobe for charity.

He has a long relationship with the fashion industry. In 2012, he launched his annual A Night on the RunWade event, which raises funds to benefit the Wade Family Foundation. The event features a runway show with Miami Heat players modeling looks from Aventura Mall retailers such as Bloomingdale’s, Designer Eyes, Kids Atelier and more.

The $56 billion Texas Permanent School Fund backs the three-year-old private-equity firm started by veteran sports investors David Abrams and Arne Rees

The Texas Permanent School Fund is making a long-term bet that private equity can thrive in the booming sports market.

The $56 billion pension system, which manages money on behalf of the state’s schoolteachers and other beneficiaries, plans to take a stake in Velocity Capital Management, a firm founded in 2021 that invests in sports, media and entertainment companies.

The Texas Permanent fund has made an anchor commitment to Velocity Capital’s debut fund, which hasn’t yet closed, and has secured an agreement to negotiate a minority stake in the New York firm, the pension system said. It also will earmark more capital for co-investments, credit and real estate deals within Velocity’s areas of expertise. The pension’s anchor fund commitment totaled $200 million, according to Velocity.

Robert Borden, the chief executive and chief investment officer of Texas Permanent, says sports and entertainment is a promising and still relatively untapped sector, and he believes the partnership with Velocity Capital will allow the pension system to deploy long-term capital in a growing market.

“What I see is a space ripe for institutionalization,” said Borden. “It’s very fragmented, but with the advent of streaming content and certain leagues opening up the possibility of commercial ownership, there is a tremendous amount of opportunity.”

It is relatively unusual for U.S. pension managers to seed young private-equity firms or buy stakes in them, although the broader market for investment in alternative-asset managers is growing quickly. There were 89 investments in alternative asset managers this year through Aug. 1, totaling $21.3 billion and surpassing the sum for all of last year, according to data firm PitchBook.

Borden, who took the top position at Texas Permanent late last year, has a long record of taking direct stakes in companies, going back to his time managing capital for the South Carolina Investment Commission. He believes that pension funds can take advantage of the investment expertise of the firms they work with via partnerships that allow for more co-investment and direct deals. In May, Texas Permanent announced a partnership with quantitative equity manager Intech.

But Borden sees a particularly bright opportunity in sports and entertainment. Sports investment has surged in recent years due to professionalization of college athletics, the legalization of gambling and the proliferation of streaming services, among other factors. In August, the National Football League, the country’s most lucrative sports league, approved a new policy to allow investors such as private equity to own stakes in teams.

Globally, private-equity firms have invested $11.8 billion in sports deals this year through Oct. 18, compared with $9 billion all of last year, PitchBook said.

Velocity Capital was formed by longtime sports investors David Abrams and Arne Rees. Abrams previously was a partner with Apollo Global Management and also a CIO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. Rees previously served as U.S. CEO of Sportradar Group and as an executive at sports-broadcasting network ESPN, among other roles.

Abrams says Velocity Capital’s objective is broader than most private-equity investors in the sports sector. The firm doesn’t invest in teams, but wants to find companies where they can work with operators and expand over years, and eventually to create “a multistrategy platform where we are domain experts in the ecosystem,” Abrams said.

Velocity has five portfolio companies, including Parella Motorsports Holdings, which hosts racing events, and Elevate, a marketing consulting firm for sports and entertainment companies. It also backs Camp, a location-based entertainment company.

Houston-based investor is asking the restaurant operator to spin out three brands

An activist investor has built a position in Cheesecake Factory CAKE -1.32%decrease; red down pointing triangle and is urging the restaurant operator to spin off three of its smaller brands into a separate public company, according to people familiar with the matter.

The details

Houston-based JCP Investment Management, which focuses on the restaurant industry, has a roughly 2% stake in Cheesecake Factory, the people said. A regulatory filing in August had revealed the firm’s initial stake in the company.

Calabasas, Calif.-based Cheesecake Factory has a market value of about $2.2 billion, with its stock price up more than 20% so far this year. The S&P 500 has risen about the same amount over that time.

Cheesecake Factory owns and operates more than 300 locations across the U.S. and Canada, including its namesake restaurants and others such as North Italia, according to its website. To many of its customers, Cheesecake Factory is known for its extensive menu, with options ranging from Tex-Mex egg rolls to fettuccine Alfredo and more than a dozen flavors of cheesecake.

The context

JCP has privately argued to Cheesecake Factory executives that three of its restaurant brands in particular would be better off as a separate company focused on faster growth: North Italia, an Italian casual-dining concept; Flower Child, a health-focused fast-casual chain; and Culinary Dropout, a gastropub known for its pretzel bites and fried chicken.

JCP has told Cheesecake Factory that it would be willing to inject capital into the spun-off entity to help with its growth, the people said. By breaking up the company, JCP argues that the separate management teams could better focus on hitting their respective financial targets.

JCP has also recommended that Cheesecake Factory implement a strategic review for several other smaller concepts the activist thinks have struggled and could be of interest to buyers, the people added.

A spokesperson for Cheesecake Factory said the company is aware of JCP’s investment. “We regularly engage with shareholders and consider their perspectives,” the spokesperson said.

​​After going public 1993, Cheesecake Factory continued growing same-store sales for years and achieved richer valuations than many of its casual-dining peers. Its growth stalled in 2017, when same-store sales fell, and the company told investors it would do more to improve operations.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Cheesecake Factory went all-in on takeout and delivery, which helped lift the business and the stock price in 2021. More recently, though, its financial performance has trailed industry peers including Texas Roadhouse and Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants.

Restaurant chains and operators this year are on track to declare the most bankruptcies in decades outside of 2020, when the global pandemic upended the industry. Smaller chains with fewer than 50 locations are seen as particularly vulnerable.

JCP was founded in 2009 by James Pappas, who had previously worked in investment banking. Pappas last year joined the board of directors of United Natural Foods, a wholesale distributor that has been trying to revive its performance. He also served on smoothie-and-juice chain Jamba’s board before the business was bought in 2018.

Sportswear company signed a 12-year extension with the leagues

Nike NKE -1.74%decrease; red down pointing triangle extended its exclusive apparel partnership with both the National Basketball Association and the Women’s National Basketball Association.

The sportswear company on Monday said it signed a 12-season extension of its global outfitting, merchandising, marketing and content partnership deal, making it the sole on-court uniform and apparel provider for the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League.

The partnership was reached in 2015 and went into effect at the beginning of the 2017-18 NBA season. It was originally set to run for eight years.

For Nike, the renewal comes at a critical time as its new Chief Executive Elliott Hill aims to return the company to growth after it reported its worst quarterly drop in revenue since the initial shock of the pandemic in 2020.

The company’s last chief executive, John Donahoe, retired this month after nearly five years in the role, during which time a series of missteps, such as cutting ties with longtime retail partners, caused the sneaker giant to lose ground to competitors.

In its quarter ended Aug. 31, Nike’s revenue fell 10% to $11.59 billion, dragged down by fewer footwear sales in North America. In a turnaround effort, the company earlier this month named Tom Peddie as head of its struggling North America operations. Sales in the current quarter are expected to be down between 8% and 10%, despite higher promotions and pricing actions.

Hill said the company’s partnership extension displays its commitment to growing the game of basketball. He added the company will work to create new pathways and opportunities for players and fans moving forward.

In collaboration with the associations, Nike will introduce programs and resources to make youth basketball accessible and scalable, create basketball programming and resources to increase access for girls of all levels, and launch player, coach and program development opportunities.

September saw a 6.1% on-year drop in the bloc’s registrations, reflecting sales

Stellantis and Hyundai Group posted steep drops in September new car registrations in the European Union, contributing to an overall decline as weakened demand continued in key markets.

Consumers in the core markets of Germany, France, Italy and Spain drove a 6.1% on-year drop in the bloc’s monthly registrations, which reflect sales, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said Tuesday. EU registrations came to around 809,163 for the month.

Stellantis, the multinational company behind European brands like Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat, posted a 27% drop-off in registrations compared with last year. The Jeep and Ram maker was hampered in the third quarter by excess inventory in the U.S., while delays to new model launches also hurt shipments.

Registrations for Volkswagen, Europe’s largest carmaker, rose 0.3%, ACEA said. German luxury brand BMW rose 7.6%, whereas Mercedes-Benz fell 7%. France’s Renault saw new-car registrations fall 1.5%.

Battery-electric vehicle and hybrid-electric cars registrations rose 9.8% and 12.5%, respectively, the industry group said. Sales of conventional gas-burning cars and plug-in hybrids both declined.