Thistle Hoping London Market Will Bloom
Former Stanley Leisure boss Paul Collis is believed to be on the verge of spearheading a casino charge by Thistle Hotels by applying for licences to bring gaming to several of its hotels in central London.
Its Singaporean owners, investment firm BIL International, reportedly wants to bring high end casino gaming to the Thistle Victoria, the Thistle Hyde Park and the Guoman, which recently opened it's doors at Marble Arch. BIL is also considering applying for a licence at its Thistle Tower Hotel with the hope that it will form part of the £100m renovation, which will also see it take on the Guoman brand.
The business model is believed to centre on courting the hotel's wealthy guests with Crockfords-esque table dominated clubs. The plan is not, therefore, particularly dependent on any aspects of the new Gambling Act although the less controversial abolition of the 24 hour rule and the ability to advertise would clearly smooth their launch, if approved.
Collis, who left Stanley Leisure last year by 'mutual consent' with reports of a pay of of circa £200,000 is believed to be applying for at least four casino licences under the existing legislation.
BIL International owner Quek Leng Chan, a Malaysian billionaire, is though to have known Collis for some time having met him at Crockfords, Stanley's most exclusive casino. Chan is said to be one of the world's biggest rollers and has been interested in owning his own exclusive London gaming club for many years.
His company increased its likelihood of funding these development plans last week with the £185m sale and leaseback of five of it's London hotels - the Hyde Park, Euston, Barbican, Bloomsbury Park and Picadilly Thistles-plus the Thistle Edinburgh, to Topland, the property business of brothers Eddie and Sol Zakay.
It has also put a further 30 regional hotels up for sale for an estimated £400m.
The London casino market has been fairly stable in recent years. As a capital city it is fairly unique in the number of casinos in operation. This lack of new licences has led to several takeovers with Gala in the process of finalising the sale of Maxims to Malaysian group Gentings and Stanley Leisure buying out Palms Beach from London Clubs. In London as a whole casino attendance increased to 2,798,755 in 2003-2004 up from 2,766,323 whilst drop was up 5.9 percent to £2286m
The Gaming Board has also been fairly receptive in recent years, approving 10 out of 15 completely new certificates in 2003-2004 with one being withdrawn and four outstanding as of 31 March 2004. Given the lack of new openings, Thistle could well fancy its chances.
