Gran Casino Costa Brava’s Gianfranco Scordato tells Simon Liddle that there is no room for ‘archaic ways of thinking’ in today’s economic climate
Spain’s new centre-right prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has a mammoth task on his hands to turn around the country’s floundering economy. Like elsewhere in Europe, Spain has been battling crippling debts, the collapse of its real estate market and soaring unemployment. Against this backdrop of economic turmoil, Gran Casino Costa Brava opened its doors on July 1 last year.
“Years of recession and the enduring financial crisis does not make for an ideal environment for a start-up,” admits chief executive Gianfranco Scordato.
The Spanish gaming market, along with probably every other leisure or entertainment sector, was hit badly; first by the smoking ban and then by the prolonged downturn. Despite this, however, Gran Casino Costa Brava has performed admirably since opening, enjoying consistent growth during 2010 and 2011. The challenge now is to continue building on this early success in what promises to be an uncertain year ahead.
“Our results make us feel confident about our strategy and efforts,” says Scordato. “Still, the casino needs to generate a much more consistent cash flow and generate a more interesting revenue stream. The initial investment and construction budgets were drawn up about four years ago in consideration of a higher return.”
The depth of Spain’s financial difficulties and the problems within the real estate and construction sectors have rocked the economy, with discretionary spending – and therefore leisure - taking a huge hit. As a relatively new entrant to an already competitive casino market, Scordato’s casino has already begun to mould its offering and streamline its operations. Now the casino has redefined its gaming and non-gaming areas, extended its opening hours, fine-tuned processes and systems and achieved greater professionalism through developing the skills of its staff.
The 16,000sq.m property has 166 slot machines and live games including roulette, blackjack, punto banco and all manner of poker variations. It has extended its product offer but, says Scordato, this alone will not ensure the casino remains ahead of the pack.
“Product per se has never been a competitive advantage in our industry so the ‘edge’ has to be found in differentiation, such as loyalty programmes, for example,” he explains.
“We manage a slot club and a poker club, which feature plenty of the most recent tools and techniques used by online gaming companies. We also run a VIP programme where clients from Russia and neighbouring France and Andorra represent our main target. Our International Poker event, which has a tremendous indirect media impact, is also a great help in putting our business on the map.”
The current legislative framework will only stretch so far, however, and Scordato believes that something must be changed to allow Spain’s casinos to move forward.
