The banks behind the Apollo Management/Texas Pacific Group takeover of Harrah’s Entertainment may have been landed with the US$14 billion of debt used to finance the buyout, as efforts to syndicate the debt have collapsed, but at Harrah’s it’s business as usual. Today Scotland’s largest casino will open in Glasgow, albeit without the supercasino status once envisioned.

The £25 million Alea Glasgow on the city's Springfield Quay is billed as an entertainment venue, with three bars, restaurant and live music room as well as the casino floor. Unlike many casinos, the Alea has feature windows overlooking the River Clyde and although the design is luxurious the atmosphere will be far from elitist.

London Clubs International (now part of Harrah’s Entertainment) Alea casinos - in Nottingham, Glasgow and soon in Leeds - were apparently named from the Latin ‘alea iacta est’ said to have been uttered by Caesar as he crossed the Rubicon. A seemingly apt name for the owners of the great Caesars casinos, the phrase appropriately translates as ‘the die is cast.’ The gaming floor in the Alea Glasgow has 20 table games, which include Blackjack, Punto Banco, Three Card Poker and American Roulette, 20 state-of-the-art electronic gaming machines and 40 electronic roulettes.

Glasgow City Council has welcomed the advent of the new casino, which provides around 180 new jobs. It had applied for a supercasino licence but lost out to Manchester, which is now also unlikely to be granted the licence it was awarded. The 20 gaming machines the Alea is allowed to operate are a far cry from the 1,250 that the facility could house, if deregulation of the UK gaming industry became a reality. (E-02.06.08)

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