The biggest winners on the UK government slow down on the approval of the super casino licence for Manchester are the current casino operators, as there is no certainty that a new Las Vegas type casino in Manchester will be built in the region and draw revenue from the smaller local casinos. In an extremely conservative gaming environment this seems to be good news, but on the broader industry growth it is a very short sighted and narrow minded approach.

As the British Gambling Prevalence Study 2007 published last Wednesday shows, only 4% of the people gamble in casinos in the country, while 57% take a punt on the National Lottery, followed by 20% gambling on scratch cards, 17% on horseracing, and 14% on slot machines, mostly at pubs. Also, and more importantly, the level of gambling in the country decreased by around one million players in the 8 year period since the last survey. And what is of supreme importance is that the level of problem gambling has not increased since 1999.

The BGPS stats are a godsend for the work on responsible gambling in the country, which is primarily done by the casino operators, and it readies the sector for major growth. A leap in quality is afforded by the opening up of advertising and marketing opportunities for the casinos, which the previous law had kept in a straight jacket.

Casino restaurants and limited hospitality rewards, afforded by the previous gaming laws, have been in use by British casinos for a long time. However, the quality of such hospitality venues could not be promoted. As the new gambling legislation relaxes casino advertising in the country, culinary excellence may well be at the fore of benefits for the visiting public at local casinos.

As gambling education for the public becomes more readily available, it will be supremely clear that the best chance of a gambling win added to a good time in restaurants and bars will be at their local casinos. After all, how could a lottery ticket or scratch card compete with an over 90% payback on slot machines? Suddenly the 4% public support for British casinos looks like growing, doesn’t it?

I bet it does! And this is where opposition to the super casino is short sighted and pedestrian, because the attraction of a Las Vegas type casino in Manchester would have raised the marketing and promotion bar for the operators, and also would have brought increased gambling play to slots and tables with bigger prizes to the public. After all, neither of the favourite forms of gambling entertainment in the country – the National Lottery and scratch cards - offers responsible gambling programmes or customer service to kill! (E-09.21.07)

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