Ivory Coast or Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country located on the south coast of West Africa. Ivory Coast's political capital is Yamoussoukro in the centre of the country, while its economic capital and largest city is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea, Liberia , Burkina Faso Mali, Ghana and Atlantic Ocean. The area became a protectorate of France in 1843 and was consolidated as a French colony in 1893. It achieved independence in 1960.

Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) leads the world in production and export of the cocoa beans used in the manufacture of chocolate , supplying 40% of cocoa produced in the world.
Photos Abidjan from my trips

History of gambling
Gambling in Ivory Coast is regled by the Decret nº 98-371 du 30 juin 1998 portant reglementation des etablissements de jeux de harsard (on the reglation of gambling establishments) . This decret was ammended by the Decret nº2009-29 du 12 fevrier portant modification du decret 98-371 portant regulamentation des Etablissements de Jeux d´Hasard( amending Decree 98-371 regulating the establishement of Games of Chance Establishments).
The market for slot machines was opened up as well as the access of the Ivorian nationals to gambling, althought it rested for slot machines.
Prior to the publication of the Law governing gambling in Ivory Coast, a special Decret Nº 69-507 du 8 Decembre 1969 portant création du casino de l´Hotel Ivoire ( creating the casino of Hotel Ivoire), had been issued in 1969 to allow the opening of a casino, in the jewel of Ivory Coast, the Hotel Ivoire.

HOTEL IVOIRE – CASINO ELEPHANT d´OR

It was in 1960 that the President Houphouet Boigy, after an official visit to Liberia, met architect Moshe Mayer who had built the Dukor Hotel in the same country. He offers to build a more impressive hotel in Abidjan, and had gone to Abidjan to build the hotel dreamed of the former President. The hotel would be built in the Cocody district, being a first phase of the hotel constituted by the central building, inaugurated in 1963. The Ivory tower was delivered six years later, in 1969. Later a skating rink, a casino and a congress center will complete the ensemble, managed jointly by Inter Continental Hotels and the ivorian company Societé des palaces de Cocody (SPDC).SPDC ( Societé des Palaces de Cocdy) was created by the Ivorian state in 1961, in partnership with Mafit Trust Corporation group, in the form of alimited company. His patrimony was then constituted only of the Hotel Ivoire. In 1979, the State became sole shareholder by the withdrawal of Mafit Trust Corporation. In 1997, the SPDC became a state-owned company.

The hotel will be superbly renovated in 2011. A comtemporay atmosphere with fiery colors prevails in the iconic Hotel Ivoire , later managed by Hotel Sofitel.

Hotel Ivoire, postcard 1970´s. Building and Ivoire tower.Casino conic roof buildings at left.side of the photo.
CASINO ELEPHANT d´OR
To make the venture more profitable and increase the offer to tourists and businessmen who came to the country, the State decides to grant an authorization to open a casino included in the hotel complex, issuing a special Decret no.65-507.
The casino of the Hotel Ivoire was inaugurated in 1969, annexed to the hotel, and was prohibited to Ivorians.


Casino Elephant d´Or, postcard 1970´s.

The casino was closed in 2008, after 39 years of existence, will be reopened in 2017.
The Societé des Palaces de Cocody (SPDC), the property manager of the hotel, was signed a concession agreement for the operation and maintenance of the Casino Elephant d´Or, with the Groupe Lucien Barriere, a French hotelier company specialiZing in luxury hotels and casinos, in December 8 of 2015, in Abidjan-Cocody.
Built on an area of 1400m2, the venue where was instaled the casino, includes two gambling rooms and a restaurant. SPDC was authorized by Decree nº 69-507 ( the manager of the hotel since 1961) to conceed the exploitation and the management of the Casino Elephant d´Or.
This motivated a restricted international tender, in order to choose ana operator capable of ensuring optimal management of the casino. Of six operators, the Groupe Lucien Barriere was
selected. The SPDC remains the owner of the casino while entrusting the layout of premises, operation, maintenance and equipment to Groupe Lucien Barriere.
The agreeement was planned for a period of 1o years, which may be extended by three years.
By Law, the Ivory Coast has only one casino that is qualified to practice in the country, because the same law restrain casinos to be settled on five stars hotels, which the only is Hotel Ivoire. Despite this, the law has evolved to allow 4-star hotels to have casinos withim them, but with the condition to be able to make improvments to position at the height of 5 stars.
But no other casinos were opened until now.

The Casino Barriere, Elephant d´Or of Abidjan, saw its activities started on May 1, 2017.
In spite of its expectations, the Barriere group achieved a turnover of more than 3 billion CFA francs for its first year of operation for an investment of approximatly of 2,8 billion CFA francs.
The ban of Ivoriens on the gambling rooms pose to the casino a problem as loses a lot of turnover while the groupreturns to the coffers of the State 30% of its turnover.
Despite the ban on the access to the table gaming rooms, they can enter and play in the slot machines. But on the field of slot machines, the casino is heavily contested by the numerous Lydia Ludic´s gambling halls , offering slot machines throught the city.
The clientele consists mainly of foreigners, namely Europeans and Asians.
The Casino Elephant d´Or offers slot machines, electronic roulette and table games – roulette, black jack,ultimate poker, 3 cards poker and stud poker.

Casino Elephant d´Or, 2017. From casino website

my Picture 2018



My pictures 2018

CASINO CAFÉ DE ROME- Abidjan

Café de Rome .Photos from AACFB- Atelier d´Architecture Charles Franck Baret website

The Café de Rome Abidjan was owned by ANFA Group, which had prestigious establishments,such as Café de Rome Dakar (casino), the Casino of Cape Verde in Dakar, the Madrague, a group of hotels , casinos, restaurants and bars in Senegal and Ivory Coast.
In 13 of December 2003, the President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, officialy opened the Café de Rome, na hotel complex, consisting in a brasserie, a slot machines room, and a night club, overlooking the lagoon. This structure was the work of a Franco-Italian-Senegalese- Ivorian private Consortium, materialized by Resort Company Invest-Abidjan. Eventually, was planned on site, an hotel of 80 rooms.
The Café de Rome was demolished in March 2015 by the Ivorian State for the development of the bay of the comune of Cocody This complex enjoyed a comercial lease until 2053 and have paid more than a billion taxes annualy to the Ivorian State.At the time was a luxury complex situated in the heart of Abidjan. The Café de Rome included a 5-star hotel, a casino with 100 slot machines and traditional gambling tables room, a brasserie, a bar, a night club and na infrastructure dedicated to seminars and banquets.
The lawyer of the Resort Co Invest Abidjan( Rci-A), claims to the Ivorien State,24,4 billion FCFA ( 40 million euros) of compensation of the destruction of the hotel complex Café de Rome, which was located on the edge of the lagoon Ebrié, in Abidjan-Plateau, on the laggoon boulevard. The case has gone to Court in Paris.

Café de Rome March 2015 demolition.Photo from http://news.abidjan.net
We don´t know anny chips from this Casino.

LYDIA LUDIC
Pefaco West Africa SA commenced operations in the Ivory Coast in 2009 in cooperation with LONACI ( Loterie Nationale de Cote d´Ivoire- Ivory´Coast national lottery) under the terms of and exclusive contract , under the therms of wich:
LONACO grants to Grupo Pefaco the right to install and operate slot machines in public venues ( bars, gaming halls, night clubs, hotels, etc) in the Ivory Coast for a 10-year renovable period and LONACI receives a 4 million euro lumpsum settlement to be paid over three years and na annual license equal to 8% of net gaming revenues recorded by Lydia Ludic Côte d´Ivoire.

Lidya Ludic is the trademark used by the Prefaco group to develop its games and leisure division.
The popularization of slot machines gaming halls will accelarate in Ivory Coast with the advento f Lydia Ludic in 2009. And since then, this company has snatched more than 90% market share of casino games and slot machines with several representations both in Abidjan and inside the country.
Beyond Abidjan wich concentrates a very large part of rhese gaming rooms, the interior of the country i salso contaminated by this phenomenon. Bouake, Daloa, Dan Pedro, Ferké, Yamoussoukro,Katiola, Meadji, Soubré beside others major cities in the interior of the country also have their gambling rooms, from VIP to small halls. In some busy bars there are slot machines.
The access to slot machines is allowed to Ivorian citizens, which is a big contribution to support the Lydia Ludic business. At the end of 2014 Lydia Ludic had 1027 gaming machines in operation.
In 2006 started the poker in Abidjan.

from Lydia Ludic site

Lydia Ludic, Av. Marseille. Abidjan. Photo by me 2018. Poker was working.