Ligue 1: the casino group Partouche becomes the shirt sponsor of LOSC Lille in 2015-16

Partouche, a casino company, has become the main shirt sponsor of LOSC Lille (Ligue 1) for the 2015-16 season, announced the club on 21/07/2015. The group had already been the shirt sponsor of the club from 2003-04 to 2013-14.

The difficulties of the group, under a safeguard procedure from the Commercial Court of Paris in September 2013, were prominently cited as reasons for the withdrawal of Partouche. "There are trade-offs. A sports sponsorship is something very expensive and at some point, in this storm, we have to preserve our core business," said Fabrice Paire, the president of the board of executives of the group on 01/10/2013. The sale of non-strategic assets reduced the net debt of the group by €55.3m (-30%), bringing it to €128.3m on 31/10/2014.

The casino company is the replacement as shirt sponsor of Etixx (Omega Pharma Group), the brand of nutritional supplements for athletes owned by Marc Coucke, who also owns 5% of the Lille club. Through his family holding company, Isidore Partouche, the founder of the group, retains a 40% of the share holding company which owns 95…