Small UK Casinos Can Still Be Viable In New Age UK
Whilst small might very often be touted as being beautiful, it can also make for a viable casino operation in the post deregulated UK casino environment.
Rank Group Gaming Division, one of the UK's biggest players, has certainly placed its faith in the more intimate of operations with its latest gamble on the gaming market in Stoke-on-Trent. Grosvenor Casino The Octogon is the latest development in Rank's strategy to revive its offering and appeal to a more mainstream audience. With over £3m investment in its first site in the city, Rank has filled over 1500 sq m of gaming space with 10 gaming machines, 10 tables and 16 roulette terminals.
With the current DCMS proposal that all casinos should have Category A machines reportedly falling on deaf ears, some are saying existing operations face a bleak future. But Rank managing director David Boden clearly believes there is a future market for the 'Stokes' of the liberalised casino world even without unlimited jackpots.
"We're looking at several different styles of casino for our future developments and whilst we're excited by some of our plans for the leisure destination casino, we're aware that not every player will take to the resort style experience," he advised. "And for them, we're keen to provide a more intimate casino experience. With stakes and prizes for category B machines currently under review, we're hopeful of jackpot limits being raised to at least £20,000. We feel this would provide the smaller venue with enough market to go after, even without the Category A machines."
Mario Vilela, Rank's new director of slots, has been brought in from Sun City in South Africa to help oversee the development of the group's slot division. He believes the learning curve for new slot players will not be as steep or as long as some are expecting. "International style slots have only recently been introduced into our two casinos in Belgium. The experience there bodes well for the UK as the players have taken to the new slots very quickly and within six months they were giving a good return."
The opening night saw Stoke's second casino packed to the rafters and with crowds around every gaming position, the only contention seemed to be when people had to wait to get on some tables.
"More intimate UK Casinos can provide a unique atmosphere where everybody knows everybody else, " she added. "I think we proved on the opening night what we could achieve and we ensure that each one our members continues to enjoy the Grosvenor Casino experience. The feedback we received on the night was fantastic. We definitely have a winning formula to keep the customers happy."
