Inside Asian Gaming

200-300 jobs for the local economy.” Mixed Blessings The latest prevalence study conducted by the country’s regulatory authority, the UK Gambling Commission, showed that less than 5% of Britons have ever visited a casino, and one of the reasons for the low level of penetration is the plethora of other gambling options open to them, such as high street betting shops and online portals. The availability of these other channels has also had the effect of decreasing the value of licenses. As Wilson points out, “The recession, growth of machine gaming in betting offices and ever-expanding facilities for online gaming have all combined to damage casino footfall and drop, so the prospect of having to finance a massive upfront capital investment in developing a multiplex casino and entertainment facility is less attractive now than at any time since the Gambling Act was implemented in 2007.” As an example, Clermont Leisure, a subsidiary of Guoco Leisure, had applied for 30 licenses in 2007, but announced to the Hong Kong stock exchange last year that it was withdrawing all of them. Conversely, one of the positive effects of the act was to put an upper limit on the total number of casinos that will be allowed in the country. This means that operators know how much they can expand their estates, and this has certainly enabled Grovesnor, part of the Rank Group, to set some targets, as Rank Director of Communications Dan Waugh explains: “We increased our estate from 32 casinos at the beginning of [2009] and had 35 by the end of the year, while the whole market went from 145 to 142. There is now a ceiling on the market, and we know where it is.” Grosvenor has 12 licenses it is not using, and Waugh says current plans are to expand from 35 to 47 casinos, and maybe of day, which is disappointing.” Scott Longley, business editor of industry news website Gambling Compliance believes it unlikely that the 16 licenses will become actual casinos, even with a change of government. “The 16 small- and mediumcasino proposals got caught out in the shakedown when Gordon Brown nixed the ‘super casino’ in a fit of Presbyterian pique, and they haven’t really surfaced since. Although it is thought to be in the hands of the local authorities, it would appear that they have sunk without a trace. There might be some interest in reviving the plans for them, as the UK casino industry, in parts at least, has done a good job of recovering from the imposition of the smoking bans in Scotland and then England and Wales and the new taxes imposed in 2007.” The hopes now rest on the new Conservative-led government, and it appears casinos are no longer high enough on the agenda. TheConservativePartywashugelycritical of the Labour Government’s Gambling Act during the years it took to reach the statute book but has yet to announce any clear policy changes. It is unlikely that it will rip up the act in its entirety, but it is possible that it may make the unused 16 licenses portable so that local authorities that want casinos can accommodate operators who wish to open in their areas. That change in policy would be welcomed by Ramm. “We need to get away from the whole concept of permitted areas and say to local authorities, ‘If you want a casino you can have one, as long as someone is prepared to move an existing licence there.’ That way you wouldn’t increase the total number of casinos, and there would still be less than 200 in the whole country, but it would mean all the licenses were being used and casinos were in places where they were wanted.” He cites the capital as an example. “Only two out of the 32 London boroughs have casinos: the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster. If another borough like Croydon, Havering or Harringay wanted a casino, what is wrong with one of the casinos that are concentrated in the West End, which doesn’t need a boost to its night time economy, moving to the outskirts? Currently, we have people coming into the West End to use casinos when they could have the facility where they live. A casino in somewhere like Havering could create The 16 small- and medium-casino proposals got caught out in the shakedown when Gordon Brown nixed the ‘super casino’ in a fit of Presbyterian pique, and they haven’t really surfaced since.” Restrictions on casino advertising have been eased