Megasinos

Written by Councillor Paul Elgood and published in GScene on Wed 1st Dec 2004

Brighton Casino

Reform is being proposed through the Government's Gambling Bill which modernises outdated legislation. A new body, the Gambling Commission, will regulate all forms of gambling. The new body has significantly greater powers (e.g. rescinding licences and imposing fines) than has previously been the case.

The Government says the Bill will increase opportunities for adults to gamble, while decreasing opportunities for children to gamble. They say any expansion will bring economic and regenerative benefits.

The Bill's most contentious section is about 24hr 'regional' casinos. These could be buildings incorporating restaurants, stage entertainment, retail outlets and even housing. Unlike other casinos, they will be allowed to have 'Category 'A' Gaming Machines' which have unlimited jackpots. They will also allow for more slot machines per gaming table (25:1 as opposed to 5:1).

Lib Dems welcome about 80% of the Bill. We welcome the new regulating body, which will regulate for the first time gambling on the internet; the removal of the 24hr rule (whereby customers were obliged to wait 24hrs to gain membership of a casino or bingo club before playing for the first time) and a greater recognition of the problems of gambling addiction.

The regional casino proposals will be controversial because of a perceived negative impact they may have on communities, and the role they could play in increasing the number of problem gamblers (current estimated at 300,000). The Government has so far refused to place a cap on the number of regional casinos (currently 122) and believes that the market should decide. However, late concessions by the Minister to Labour backbenchers mean that only eight will get initial go ahead. We believe that the powers of local authorities to prevent such casinos in their area need to be significantly strengthened, and this is one of the weaknesses in the Bill.

However, you can not hide from the fact that such a large well run casino -developed in the right place, and in the right way- will present a tremendous opportunity for our City, reasserting it as the UK's premier tourist resort.

At the November Council Meeting, the backward looking Tories and Greens again gang up to try and resist any such development in the City. I think the 'unholy' Green-Blue alliance has got it wrong and offers a knee-jerk reaction against what could be a major opportunity to boost tourism and business in our City. Yes, of course, safeguards must be put in place, however, there is no reason at all why a development in the right place and controlled in the right way will be detrimental to local people. I wouldn't support one, say, in a large residential area or next to a school, but surely such a proposal at, say, the Marina is worthy of consideration? Too many jobs and too many businesses in our City rely on tourism for us just to dismiss such a proposition.

Las Vegas may not be everyone's cup of tea and that's fair enough. However, no-one is suggesting that Brighton & Hove should become the UK's version of it. But what we cannot ignore is that tourism and businesses in our City rely heavily on visitor numbers and this could add another string to our City's bow.