Casino de Fouras, Gaming establishment in Fouras, France

The Casino de Fouras is a gaming establishment housed in a modern building with gaming rooms, a restaurant, and a performance space that doubles as a cinema. The facility sits within a large oak-filled park and combines different types of entertainment in one location.

The first casino opened in 1886 in the rooms of the Château du Bois-Vert. As the château became too small for the many players, the municipality moved it: in 1908 it built a wooden hall on the site of today's cinema and a masonry hall for baccarat in the seven-hectare holm-oak park at the southern tip. A railway halt behind the château served players and spectators, with the 1:25 a.m. train returning clients to Rochefort.

The casino's name comes from the Italian "casino", meaning a small house or pavilion. Its hall hosts shows and also serves as the town cinema, so the same room is used for films and live performances. The 1908 complex was built in a seven-hectare holm-oak park at the southern tip of Fouras.

The casino stands at the southern tip of Fouras, in the seven-hectare holm-oak park where the 1908 building was erected; the gaming rooms, restaurant and show-cinema hall share this site. A former railway halt behind the château on its north facade once brought players back to Rochefort on the 1:25 a.m. train. Check current opening times and entry conditions before travelling.

During World War II, German forces used the casino building as a shelter for their horses, giving the site an unexpected chapter in its past. This period shows how leisure spaces can become repurposed during times of conflict.