Barrière announces majority stake in Nolaroads agency

Barrière continues its digital transformation by taking out a 60% major stake in Nolaroads, a content design agency specialised in digital transformation and mobile applications. 

Barrière and Nolaroads first met in the summer of 2015 when Barrière was looking to re-design its Casinos web site. Based on this initial joint project and a shared vision of how the casinos business should evolve, Barrière is looking to capitalise on the encounter and expand its presence on the Gaming market.

And so it was that “Barrière Pocket Casino” launched in October 2016 - the first Barrière mobile game application based on slot machine technology with the objective of extending the casino experience outside our establishments. This first game quickly racked up 40,000 downloads, and has fulfilled its objective of gamifying the relationship with the customers in the continuity of its CRM program.

Having achieved such a success allowed the group to launch a new Black Jack mobile game based on the Mousquetaires theme which is, since last July, available on Barrière Pocket Casino.

Beyond this first application, the objective of this majority stake is the creation of a new branch of activities to complete the main ones that are : casinos, hotels, bars and restaurants… For the Group, it will mean the production of free to play games in France and abroad. The first one should be available by the end of 2018. This business activity will generate 100% online revenues for the Group.

For Barrière President Dominique Desseigne:  

 “Investing in mobile games - and just recently in eSport with Webedia - is part of our plan to win new customers - especially millennials, of whom more than 80% are gamers. I am proud to see our Group buying into this new business sector that is a perfect match for our business - and very happy with our close relationship with Nolaroads”.

The Group’s investment in Nolaroads is evidence of Barrière’s plans to diversify itself by launching on the booming Gaming sector.

For Barrière, Gaming is the ideal addition to its casino business and could well be a vector for strategic growth. The Group is taking up a new challenge in pursuing its ambition to strengthen its position on the leisure and entertainment market.

About Barrière 
The Barrière brand sells two separate groups of hotels, casinos and restaurants: Groupe Lucien Barrière (GLB) and Société Fermière du Casino Municipal de Cannes (SFCMC).

Founded in 1912 by François André and subsequently developed and managed by Lucien Barrière, Diane Barrière-Desseigne and Dominique Desseigne, the Barrière group has gone through many eras to become market leader in French casinos, a benchmark in the luxury hotel industry and a global player in the world of leisure and entertainment. The Group has developed an unrivalled offering in the top of the range leisure market, founded with the view to providing operational excellence, a quality of service that is second to none and French art de vivre. Today it owns 34 Barrière Casinos (with one more opening soon in Cairo), 18 Barrière Hotels* (mainly 5 stars) and more than 120 bars and restaurants, one of which is the renowned Fouquet’s in Paris (with subsidiaries in Cannes, Courchevel, La Baule, Marrakech, Toulouse and Enghien-les-Bains) and organises more than 3,000 shows and events every year. Its turnover was 1.16 billion euros at the end of its financial year on 31st October 2016, and the Group now comprises 7,000 staff members.

The Group is also well known in the food and beverage industry, serving some 2 mililion meals, in the leisure industry with 15 spas, 1 thalassotherapy centre in La Baule, 1 balneotherapy centre in Ribeauvillé, 3 golf courses and 2 tennis clubs, and is increasingly making a name for itself through its world renown Resorts located in many popular tourist destinations.

*including Le Carl Gustaf St Barths which will be opening in 2018

About Nolaroads 

Created by young entrepreneur François Ringard in 2012, Nolaroads is an advertising agency with the DNA of a start-up. Combining true strategic and creative ambition with technical pragmatism, Nolaroads has attracted a number of prestigious clients over the last 5 years, sharing the same results-oriented culture. Following success after success, it is now increasingly focusing its attention on the leisure sector in the wider sense of the term – from tourism to gaming - going on to develop its own game design studio in 2016.  Its team of 25 staff offers a range of different skills - strategy, data, game design, content design and technology development. Its secret: combining its expertise in collecting and analysing data with the art of entertainment to form a successful whole.