The Lucien Barrière Group has acquired one of Portugal’s most historic casinos, Póvoa de Varzim Casino, expanding its international retail portfolio.
Póvoa de Varzim Casino is a seaside resort that employs 220 people and has stood for nearly a century, having opened in 1934 and is located just 30km away from Porto.
Featuring French architecture, Barrière will gain the casino’s 500 gaming stations (slot machines and electronic table games), 11 traditional gaming tables, a restaurant, a bar and a theatre with over 400 seats and a regular schedule of shows and events.
Clément Martin-Saint-Léon, General Manager of the Lucien Barrière Group’s Casino, stated: “Póvoa de Varzim embodies everything that makes the projects we develop unique: a place steeped in history, a dynamic destination and genuine potential for transformation.
“Our ambition is to bring a contemporary take on the casino, envisioning it as a vibrant hub in its own right, where gaming interacts with the performing arts, fine dining, and the overall experience.”
With Póvoa de Varzim, Barrière aims to implement a gradual gaming offering modernisation, customer experience upgrade, dining concepts redesign, arts and events programme expansion, as well as a better integration into the tourist flow of Porto.
Barrière added that it will expand its reach in Portugal beyond this acquisition, as it will soon be operating a residential and hotel project in Lisbon.
Grégory Rabuel, Chief Executive Officer of the Lucien Barrière Group, commented: “This is exactly how Barrière approaches its development today: evolving iconic establishments to reveal their full potential, without ever losing their identity.”
Barrière now has 32 casinos and one gaming club under the Barrière Casino brand, in addition to 20 luxury hotels and nearly 200 restaurants and bars.
Operators have portrayed different perspectives on the Portuguese gambling market in recent months, with some investing in the market, while others have exited the region.
Back at the beginning of the year, Super Group’s Betway handed over its online sports betting and iGaming licences to the country’s gambling regulator, Serviço de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ), closing its sites after they had been revoked upon request.
The licences were held by GM Gaming Limited, which operated the Betway brand in Portugal.
“As a global business listed on the NYSE, we take great care to continually evaluate all markets and their performance in relation to our targets,” the company stated.
“After a thorough review, we have decided to relinquish our license in Portugal to focus on existing markets and growth areas with more potential.”
However, in March, Rank Group was granted a licence to launch its YoBingo brand in Portugal following a nearly six-year assessment and certification process of its bingo platform.
SRIJ authorised BingoSoft, the Malta-based operating company of YoBingo, to become the 17th licensed online gambling brand permitted to operate in the Portuguese market, authorised to offer online bingo alongside a certified selection of slot and casino games.
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