The French government has ruled out the idea of putting large casinos in Paris but remains open to the launch of London-style members-only gambling ‘clubs.’

Casinos have been barred from the city of lights since 1920, but small-scale cercles de jeux opened to fill the void. In 2008, France began closing these ostensibly non-profit venues – including the fabled poker room Aviation Club de France – due to the widely held suspicion that the Corsican mafia was using them to launder money.

By the time the gendarmes were finished, only two of the original 10 cercles de jeux were still operating in the city of lights. The accompanying plunge in tax contributions to the state prompted Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to ask honorary Ile-de-France prefect Jean-Pierre Duport for ideas on reviving the city’s gaming options.

On Friday, the French government finally released Duport’s report, which proposed licensing either large-scale casinos or London-style exclusive gaming clubs that would offer casino table games but no slot machines. Duport noted that, with the exception of Rome, Paris was the only major European capital without a casino. Duport estimated the government could reap €46.5m in annual tax revenue from just one Paris casino.