Stanley Leisure Group's expansion plans are gearing up, with a new casino planned for Sheffield in the north of England. The leading UK casino company announced that it had also been granted permission for an £8 million (US$14.3M) casino in its home city, Liverpool, two weeks ago. In Sheffield for its first property in the city, Stanley plans to create a 30,000 sq ft entertainment complex with casino in St Paul's Place, after city magistrates approve the plans. Stanley expects to open the Sheffield casino in early 2008.

The British operator is going ahead with a further five new casino licence applications, apart from the three licence applications for operations in the cities of London, Edinburgh and Southampton. The new Liverpool casino will be Stanley's third there, and it is expected to open in late 2008. The 48-year-old company has focused on its casinos since selling its UK high street betting shops to rival William Hill last year for £504M.

Shortly after the sale of its bookmaking division, Stanley revealed that it was returning £327 million (US$583M) to its shareholders and investing £100 million (US$178M) to upgrade its gambling properties. In January, the firm bought three casinos, two in Southend, Essex and one in Bristol for around US$53M. Also at the beginning of the year, Stanley announced approval for its first casino licence in Nottingham, where the company has budgeted £7 million (US$12.5M), and expects it to open towards the end of this year.

Stanley reported pre-tax profits of £22.2 million (US$39.6M) for the six months to the end of October, and announced that the footfall for its operations outside London had increased some 15%, since the change in gaming legislation in the country that scrapped the 24 hours notice of gambling intention by the public.

The casino acquisitions and its current plans have consolidated Stanley's position as the biggest casino operator in the UK, where it operates 44 casinos. Leonard Steinberg, now Lord Steinberg, founded Stanley Leisure in 1958, a few years after taking over his father's illegal betting shop in Northern Ireland, and moved to England in the 1970s. (E-06.25.06)

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