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15 January 2006
Game On As Casino Eyes Up Club
Site
A
casino would be opened on the site of the former Eros/Elite
nightclub at Fountainpark under plans recently
unveiled.
Stanley Casinos, which
already operates three of Edinburgh's four casinos, wants to
transform the site into one of the city's largest gaming
venues.
The new development, which
would feature a new entrance and 2700 square metres of
gaming floor open for play from 2pm to 6am - the standard
operating hours for a casino.
Stanley runs the Stanley
Cascades Casino on Ocean Drive, the Stanley Edinburgh Casino
on York Place and the Stanley Berkeley Casino on Rutland
Place.
These can accommodate
between 70 and 120 players and several hundred more in
associated bars and restaurants.
The casino at Fountainpark
is expected to be much larger - with room for well over 1000
players.
The Gala Maybury Casino,
on South Maybury Road, is currently thought to be the city's
largest as it has room for 144 players.
Plans for the new casino
have been attacked by casino rival Gala as being unsuitable
for the site.
An objection has been
filed on behalf of the Rank Group Gaming Division, which
runs Mecca Bingo. The company says it plans to move its
nearby Fountainbridge venue to one of the vacant
Fountainpark units, possibly the site of the former Waikiki
Beach bar which closed down more than two years
ago.
Rank Group also claims the
Ego/Elite site is unsuitable for a casino, and has
complained that Stanley was not clear about where it wanted
to operate.
A public advert about the
licensing application gave the address as "Unit F Dundee
Street".
In its objection letter
Rank Group said: "At the very least, the application should
have mentioned Fountainpark, and probably should have said
something like 'formerly all of Eros/Elite nightclub', so
that the public were reasonably aware of the precise
location."
The casino could become
the latest addition to the large leisure complex which
already boasts a cinema, health club, bowling alley and
restaurants.
Another possible stumbling
block to the license being granted, however, is that the
group would have to show there was a demand for the
casino.
Currently the city's four
casinos are operating at only around half of their maximum
capacity.
David Rintoul, of
Tollcross Community Council, said: "We already have the
bingo in this area and they are planning to move to
Fountainpark, so I don't know how suitable it would be
there."
Eros and Elite, the
£5 million "twin scene nightclub" which opened in 1999,
became one of the city's most notorious venues.
It was repeatedly
threatened with having its licence suspended, and came under
fire in 2003 after police highlighted scores of sickening
attacks by bouncers and among clubbers
themselves.
But the violence continued
and the club eventually closed down in 2004.
Dr Alex Crawford, of the
RCA Trust which helps people with drug, alcohol or gambling
addictions, said the leisure complex was an unsuitable place
for a casino. He said: "The biggest risk group for gambling
are people under 25 and they are exactly the type of people
who would frequent this type of leisure complex."
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