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The big American gaming companies can scarcely conceal their enthusiasm for a relaxation in our gambling legislation that could see Las Vegas-style casinos in every large town in Britain, The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed that there will be no ceiling on the number of mega casinos with million-pound slot machines. Tony Banks, a Labour MP and member of the joint committee for the Draft Gambling Bill, said this week that there was every chance that every large town could find itself with its own casino. "Indeed," he declared, "I would see nothing wrong with that whatsoever. "We are liberalising the rules and they are far too restrictive at the moment." According to the Times yesterday, proposals for the first 96 casinos across Britain include eight such casinos in London, one in Torquay, two in Blackpool and many other large English towns, four in Aberdeen and five in Glasgow. One is envisaged in Leith. Such casinos will, of course, be subject to local government vetting and control. But they are being promoted as agencies of economic regeneration, and both government and local authorities have a vested interest as they will be beneficiaries of the substantial amounts of extra tax revenue generated through business rates and betting taxation. Britain’s domestic gaming industry is opposed to what it sees as a red carpet being rolled out to America’s gambling corporations. The industry body has attacked the government’s proposals as "naive". And barely a week ago a report was published showing that gambling in Britain had increased fivefold in three years, with the numbers of problem gamblers needing help reckoned at 350,000. Now, I have no particular objection to gambling per se. Nor, I believe, do the vast majority of people who buy Premium Bonds or who have the occasional flutter on the National Lottery. Sometimes I feel my Standard Life endowment policy was a mad flutter, and that I would have been better with a Premium Bond. But we are already the biggest gamblers in Europe. Over the past three years, betting-industry turnover has shot from £7.6 billion to a record £39.4 billion in the 12 months to September. Gambling in all forms raked in £63.8 billion. According to a YouGov survey for the accountants KPMG, while the average spend on gambling per head across the UK is £52 a year, Scots spend on average £80. This figure excludes the National Lottery. When asked if they were more likely to visit a casino as part of a larger leisure/retail complex, 41 per cent of Scots surveyed said they would, compared to a UK average of 33 per cent. Good news, surely, for Glasgow’s SECC, which is set to build Scotland’s first £162 million "super casino" as part of the second redevelopment of the Queen’s Dock in Glasgow. The resort project is expected to include a casino consisting of 1,250 slot machines and 50 tables, a five-star 150-room luxury hotel, associated bars, restaurants and leisure facilities as well as a huge multi-storey car park. Construction is expected to be complete by mid-2007 if deregulation goes ahead.
The big American gaming companies can scarcely conceal their enthusiasm for a relaxation in our gambling legislation that could see Las Vegas-style casinos in every large town in Britain, The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has confirmed that there will be no ceiling on the number of mega casinos with million-pound slot machines. Tony Banks, a Labour MP and member of the joint committee for the Draft Gambling Bill, said this week that there was every chance that every large town could find itself with its own casino. "Indeed," he declared, "I would see nothing wrong with that whatsoever. "We are liberalising the rules and they are far too restrictive at the moment." According to the Times yesterday, proposals for the first 96 casinos across Britain include eight such casinos in London, one in Torquay, two in Blackpool and many other large English towns, four in Aberdeen and five in Glasgow. One is envisaged in Leith. Such casinos will, of course, be subject to local government vetting and control. But they are being promoted as agencies of economic regeneration, and both government and local authorities have a vested interest as they will be beneficiaries of the substantial amounts of extra tax revenue generated through business rates and betting taxation. Britain’s domestic gaming industry is opposed to what it sees as a red carpet being rolled out to America’s gambling corporations. The industry body has attacked the government’s proposals as "naive". And barely a week ago a report was published showing that gambling in Britain had increased fivefold in three years, with the numbers of problem gamblers needing help reckoned at 350,000. Now, I have no particular objection to gambling per se. Nor, I believe, do the vast majority of people who buy Premium Bonds or who have the occasional flutter on the National Lottery. Sometimes I feel my Standard Life endowment policy was a mad flutter, and that I would have been better with a Premium Bond. But we are already the biggest gamblers in Europe. Over the past three years, betting-industry turnover has shot from £7.6 billion to a record £39.4 billion in the 12 months to September. Gambling in all forms raked in £63.8 billion. According to a YouGov survey for the accountants KPMG, while the average spend on gambling per head across the UK is £52 a year, Scots spend on average £80. This figure excludes the National Lottery. When asked if they were more likely to visit a casino as part of a larger leisure/retail complex, 41 per cent of Scots surveyed said they would, compared to a UK average of 33 per cent. Good news, surely, for Glasgow’s SECC, which is set to build Scotland’s first £162 million "super casino" as part of the second redevelopment of the Queen’s Dock in Glasgow. The resort project is expected to include a casino consisting of 1,250 slot machines and 50 tables, a five-star 150-room luxury hotel, associated bars, restaurants and leisure facilities as well as a huge multi-storey car park. Construction is expected to be complete by mid-2007 if deregulation goes ahead.