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Stanley Leisure Welcomes Results Of UK Gambling Liberalisation

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

30 January 2006

Gambling firm, Stanley Leisure last week revealed that attendance at its casinos has increased since the UK government's liberalisation of the country's gambling sector.

In addition to permitting the operation of online casinos in the UK for the first time, the Gambling Bill, which came into force last year, removed the requirement for registration 24 hours prior to attendance at a casino, ended the "permitted areas" rule governing where casinos can be built, and allowed gambling establishments to advertise in a limited way.

However, the Gambling Bill also contained increased protections and restrictions, including tighter regulation of internet betting exchanges (in terms of obligations to verify the age of customers), the introduction of criminal charges for those who invite, permit or cause a child to gamble, the introduction of new powers to allow local authorities to limit the number of casinos granted licences in their area, and the creation of a research trust funded by the industry into the causes and treatments of problem gambling.

Commenting on the 15.7% increase in attendance at its casinos since the laws came into effect, Stanley Leisure's chief executive, Bob Wiper announced that:

“Overall the Group has reported satisfactory results for the period, even though the earnings of our London casinos were affected by the July 2005 bombings. During the period we successfully disposed of the Group’s Retail Betting Operations, and returned £327m of surplus funds to shareholders, leaving the Group primarily focused on casino operations."

"Although still early days in the deregulation of the gaming industry, we are very encouraged with the growth in attendance levels in the first few weeks since the relaxation of admission rules and other changes became effective. This growth reinforces the Group’s decision to invest over £100m during the next five years to increase capacity in our estate.”

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