Ardent Group
| S.A. (corporation) | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Leisure, casinos, hospitality, real estate, digital |
| Founded 📆 | 1992 |
| Founder 👔 | Emmanuel Mewissen Jean-Marie Léonard |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | , Liège , Belgium |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Owner | Emmanuel Mewissen Jean-Marie Léonard |
| Members | |
Number of employees | 1.400 (2021) |
| 🌐 Website | https://www.ardent-group.com/ |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Ardent Group (formerly Circus Group) is a group from Liège that, through its two entities Gaming1 and Ardent Invest, is present in entertainment (as the Belgian leader in games of chance), IT development, commercial real estate, LED signage, energy, hospitality and beer.
History
1992: The story begins
Ardent Group was formed in Liège under the name of Circus Group. Leisure and entertainment quickly became the focus of the group's activities with the opening of a first gaming hall in Liège, under the Circus brand.
1998: First steps into real estate
Ardent Group branched out and created Immo Retail, a real estate investor and property developer, as well as a partner for major retailers in Wallonia and Brussels for their expansion projects.
Meanwhile, the Circus brand was fully developing in Wallonia with the opening of a 10th gaming hall.
2002-2004: Becoming a leader in gaming
Sylvain Boniver, Christophe Boniver and Gérard El Allaf founded ProduWeb, which became the first Walloon web agent and went on to carry out large-scale national and international projects.
Ardent Group became the owner of the Casino de Namur and the Casino de Spa, assuring its leading market position in the gaming sector. The group assembled its own in-house legal team to ensure it met the legal requirements of the sector.
2011: Start of online activities
The group’s interest in new technology led them to create LEDCOM, a digital signage specialist.
Using their experience as a game operator and technology developer, Ardent Group, in partnership with ProduWeb, launched the company Gaming1, marking the start of their online activities.[1]. The Circus.be platform very quickly became the top online gaming website in Belgium[2]
2014: International expansion
Ardent Group expanded internationally and Gaming1 opened an office in Malta, the global iGaming hub. With more than 8 new Belgian online gaming websites, Gaming1 formed partnerships in Spain and opened Circus.es. Other international collaborations quickly followed.
2015: Marking Liège roots
The Circus Group became the Ardent Group. The name marks its roots in Liège, emphasizes the convivial character of the family group and reinforces their optimism.
At this time, the Ardent Group had about 500 employees and was still rapidly growing.
2016: Expansion in France
Ardent Group continued its international expansion by acquiring three French casinos (Briançon, Port-Leucate and Carnac)[3] and opening new online gaming platforms in Serbia, Spain and Portugal. They also expanded their sports betting activities with the opening of two agencies and the placing betting terminals in newsagents.
During this time, the Casino de Namur became the Circus Grand Casino de Namur and started its transformation into a prestigious hotel complex (including wellness, conference rooms, fitness room and restaurants).[4]
Regarding real estate, the Liège Office Center, a vast range of offices and apartments opposite the Liège-Guillemins train station, celebrated the start of the building work.
2016 was also the year Ardent Group decided to start the Ardent Awards as part of their mission to support the region of Liège by giving grants to local non-profit organizations.
2017: Further international expansion
2017 marked the opening of 10 new Circus gaming halls in Flanders,[5] the acquisition of a stake in the Davos casino in Switzerland, the opening of the Zamba.co website in Colombia and the signing of a transaction with the French casino group JOA.
2018: Restructuring
Due to their rapid expansion and growth, Ardent Group decided to restructure their activities into two groups: Gaming1 and Ardent Invest.[6]
On one side, Gaming1 brings together entertainment and technological activities linked to games of chance such as casinos, gaming halls and online gaming websites in Belgium and abroad. On the other side, Ardent Invest brings together all the other sectors: real estate, beer, LED screens, etc. It was created as a sparring partner that supports companies with their growth and any challenges they may face.
2019: Growth in France
Gaming1 continued their expansion in France with the opening of the Circus Club Paris and restart of the casino in Allevard. Regarding online activity, the online casino website joa-online.fr, which later became joabet.fr, was launched.
Ardent Invest also started their investment in the Ibis Styles Liège Guillemins hotel in 2019 to create a hotel inspired by the Belgian cartoon universe.[7]
2020: New acquisitions
Gaming1 acquired the Vals-les-Bains Casino in France as well as a majority stake in the capital of the Société Française de Casinos and its four casinos.[8]
Despite the public health crisis, Ardent Group continued its expansion, hiring many new colleagues within its two companies. The COVID-19 pandemic also made the group decide to postpone the Ardent Awards to give the money to organizations that were highly affected by it.
2021: Launching in North America
The construction of the Liège Office Center finished and welcomed, among others, the offices for Ardent Group and its two entities as well as the Ibis Styles hotel operated by Ardent Invest.[9]
Gaming1 also arrived on the North American market with Betly.com. The group entered into a joint venture with the hospitality company Delaware North to create Gamewise and offer their casino game and sports betting platform to North American operators.[10]
Organization
Ardent group is made up of two entities, Gaming1 and Ardent Invest, that work on different areas. Ardent group made this restructuring in 2018 due to their rapid growth.
Gaming1
Gaming1 is a leader on the Belgian gaming market, offering both land-based and online casino games, sports betting and poker. They have developed their own technology platform that allows their local and international partners to develop their online presence in the regulated casino and sports betting sectors. Gaming1’s head office is located in Liège and their revenue was approximately 250 million euros in 2019.[11] Five values form the basis of the corporate culture: team spirit, boldness, performance, pleasure and integrity.
Gaming 1 has several brands, both their own and partner, that are present in various countries including Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Serbia, Colombia and Peru. They also operate several land-based establishments, comprising 12 casinos in France and Belgium, including the Casino de Namur and Casino de Spa, a poker club in France and around 30 gaming halls in Belgium[12]. Gaming1 also has several online gambling sites internationally.
Gaming1’s main brand is Circus, which has a leading Belgian casino game and sports betting website that went live on 1 August 2011. The Circus brand also includes several land-based establishments such as gaming halls, bowling, indoor football and the Circus Grand Casino in Namur. Gaming1 works in partnership on several other online Belgian casino brands such as 777, Pokerstars, Carousel, Blitz, Casino333, Casino Belgium, Family Game Online, Golden Vegas, Lucky Games, MagicWins and Panaché.
Ardent Invest
Ardent Invest is a sparring partner that works with companies to offer tailored solutions to support them with challenges and stimulate their growth. The company invests in several sectors including entertainment, hospitality, real estate, LED signage, energy and beer.[13] Notably, the company acts as a sparring partner for Ardent Real Estate, Ibis Styles, Ledcom, Media Players, Tripick and We Invest.[14]
Company culture
Ardent Group is a family business that has grown significantly since it began, but remains true to its roots, keeping their family spirit and, despite expanding internationally, their roots in Liège. They have four key values: stability, proximity, loyalty and curiosity that guide their mission. The group also says they have unfailing optimism, which they apply to all their projects.
Responsible gaming
Ardent Group is a founding member of BAGO (Belgian Association of Gaming Operators) who are an association of five of the most important organizations in the game of chance sector. These five organizations represent 70% of the online and physical game of chances market. Through BAGO, Ardent Group is a strong actor in responsible gaming and the fight to protect game of chance players from the dangers of addiction and illegal websites. They also take part in research being carried out by universities that aims to offer an attractive and secure gaming experience to players.
This fight is led daily by Gaming1 who ensure to train all their employees on responsible gaming and put in place prevention and protection tools so players can enjoy a responsible gaming experience. They use cutting-edge technology to help identify problematic gaming behavior, demonstrating Gaming1’s “unwavering commitment to player protection”.[15]
Ardent Awards
Ardent Group’s mission to support local social projects led them to create the Ardent Awards (Prix Ardent in French) which first took place in 2016. They were created to help fund non-profit organizations in Liège that work on societal issues in five main areas: disability, childhood, family, well-being and integration.[16] For the 5th edition of the awards in 2020, a new award was added for a municipality that wishes to set up a digital project for its residents.
After a long selection process, one organization from each of the five categories is chosen by the members of a specialist jury and each receives €10,000 to carry out a project important to them. In 2020, €25,000 was given to the chosen municipality to create a digital project for their residents.[17] There is also a prize of €1,250 that goes to each of the non-profit organizations that were nominated but did not win.
In 2020, the Ardent Awards ceremony was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Ardent Group decided to allocate the €80,000 budget to sectors affected by the pandemic.[4] €30,000 was donated to CPAS, the public social welfare centers in Liège, to be used for food banks. A further €10,000 was given to the Solidaris Centrale de Services à Domicile, a home service center which provides support for people in need, to help fund medical equipment so they can more effectively combat the virus. €20,000 was also awarded to the Wallonia-Brussels Federation for the "École Numérique 2020". This project was set up by Digital Wallonia and aims to provide schools with the digital means to educate the leaders of tomorrow and to help pupils in need, even remotely.
Contributing to Wallonia’s socio-economic redevelopment
The group is proud of its roots in Liège and actively takes part in the socio-economic redevelopment of the region. Therefore, the company’s chose to have their offices in Liège. Through the company’s activities in real estate and technology, they aim to create jobs and develop opportunities in Wallonia. Ardent Invest supports companies by using their experience and know-how, while Gaming1 aims to create a technological skill center rooted in Belgium.
External links
Official website Ardent Invest
References
- ↑ "Circus, du jeu terrestre au jeu en ligne, la stratégie du pionnier". L'Echo (in français). 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Le groupe Ardent veut doubler de taille dans les jeux en 5 ans". L'Echo (in français). 2019-01-19. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Jeux d'argent : le belge Ardent mise sur le marché français". Les Echos (in français). 2018-12-30. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Un hôtel 4 étoiles, un centre balnéo et des salles de séminaires pour le casino de Namur". RTBF Info (in français). 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Les Liégeois d'Ardent Group rachètent dix salles de jeux en Flandre". Communes, régions, Belgique, monde, sports – Toute l'actu 24h/24 sur Lavenir.net (in français). Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "#Ardent Group se réorganise en deux appellations". TodayInLiege (in français). 2019-01-23. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Un nouvel #hôtel Ibis de 102 chambres aux Guillemins décoré sur le thème de la BD". TodayInLiege (in français). 2020-03-02. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "SFC en passe d'être rachetée par Circus Casino". Capital.fr (in français). 2019-12-31. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Le Liège Office Center se finalise aux Guillemins: voici les #entreprises qui s'y installent". TodayInLiege (in français). 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Gaming1 launches US joint venture with Delaware North". iGB North America. 2021-07-08. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ Gaming1. "Our mission and our vision supported by our values". Gaming1. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ Gaming1. "Casino operator with a multichannel approach". Gaming1. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ Invest, Ardent. "Companies | Ardent Invest". www.ardent-invest.be. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Le franchiseur immobilier We Invest lève 4,5 millions d'euros". RTBF Info (in français). 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ Gaming1. "Gaming1 launches groundbreaking AI player protection tools". Gaming1. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Prix Ardent 2019: découvrez les 25 associations nominées !". Guide Social (in français). Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ Compile, Radio (2021-04-13). "L'application de mobilité hannutoise Ride&Buy remporte le Prix Ardent". Radio Compile, l'univers jeune et énergique (in français). Retrieved 2021-11-03.
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