"Monsieur Isidore", flamboyant autodidact, king of slot machines... Who was Isidore Partouche, who died at the age of 94?

A taste for risk, unshakeable self-confidence, strong charisma... This flamboyant self-taught man , a Jewish repatriate from Algeria who had retained his Pied-Noir accent, had managed in the 2000s to compete with the other French casino giant, the Barrière group, his long-time competitor. And even to surpass it in the number of gaming establishments in France.

In 2025, some fifty years after its debut in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (Nord), the Partouche group has 44 casinos in France and abroad, 12 hotels and 44 restaurants. And more than 4,800 slot machines.

From Algeria to Le Touquet

"He did all this because he didn't know it was impossible," said his son Patrick, to whom he handed over the reins in 2006 and who is now chairman of the supervisory board, paraphrasing Mark Twain. He kept a close eye on his empire until the end.

Born in Trezel on April 21, 1931, under French Algeria, to a family of Jewish merchants from Oran, Isidore Partouche initially worked as a radio technician. Already, he had a strong taste for business: he became the first Philips dealer in Algeria.

Having remained in Oran for a few years after independence, he ended up going to France with his wife, a dance and then drawing teacher, and their son.

Heading to Pas-de-Calais, he bought a karting track in Le Touquet, then a nightclub. He refused to apply for any aid intended for repatriates, but failed to pay income tax for several years, which earned him a hefty tax bill.

Not to be put off for two cents, he even shifted gears by buying the small casino in Saint-Amand, near Valenciennes, which was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1973 for a symbolic franc, which he turned around with the help of his family. His first gamble.

Despite fresh run-ins with the authorities, the man whose credo is to buy cheap, restructure quickly, and reap big rewards is on the rise. He is acquiring new casinos (Le Touquet, Calais, Vichy, Forges-les-Eaux, La Ciotat, etc.), sometimes selling off less profitable spring water operations.

The one-armed bandits' jackpot

Above all, he grasped the immense profit to be made from slot machines, which had been legalized in France in the late 1980s, before anyone else. He equipped all his casinos with one-armed bandits, transforming them into real entertainment venues. A real jackpot.

A workaholic with strong interpersonal skills - he had access to the Elysée Palace under Mitterrand - he introduced the group to the stock market in 1995. A family business in the broadest sense (brothers, sisters, cousins, etc.), Partouche became the leading casino operator in France in 2002 in terms of the number of establishments (but second in terms of turnover).

He even invented the concept of "Pasino", an entertainment complex open to all and offering games, event spaces and shows.

Hammering home his motto "keep your feet on the ground and never forget where you come from", Mr. Isidore, white hair, always impeccable suit and Havana cigar on his lips, loved to make his clan laugh with his favorite joke: "to win at the casino, you have to buy one!"

During its last financial year (2023-2024), the Partouche group, which undertook several major renovations in its establishments, recorded a turnover of 434 million euros for a net profit of 4 million euros.