Rangers Plan To Bring Las Vegas-Style Gambling To Ibrox
Rangers unveiled plans for a £200 million super casino yesterday, complete with a football pitch where budding stars would be able to test their talents five stories up.
Executives at the football club have been given planning permission for the stunning structure at Ibrox that includes a 140-bed hotel, conference centre, club superstore, entertainment complex and a community centre with a floodlit rooftop pitch.
The super casino would be created opposite Ibrox along with 300 new homes around a major boulevard named Ibrox Way.
Glasgow City Council's green light to an unlikely partnership between Govan and Las Vegas strengthens the city's case to win the UK's first regional super casino.
Rangers and Las Vegas Sands (LSV), owners of the hotel made famous by Sinatra's rat pack, are the first consortium in the UK to receive planning permission to build such a gambling complex.
It places them in pole position to attract the first regional casino to Govan, an area with 14 per cent unemployment, which would benefit from 2,000 new jobs.
The development, which has cost the partners £1.5 million to put on the drawing board, is "ready to go" if the UK government decides that Glasgow is a venue for one of up to six new regional UK casinos.
The policy and resources committee of the council decided last week to actively promote Glasgow for a scheme which would generate £30 million a year for the city and attract hundreds of thousands of tourists and gamblers.
Rangers chairman, David Murray, said: "Our vision is a world-class entertainment complex."
And Bill Weidner, the president of LSV, added: "This is great news. We believe in investing in local people and our training and development plans are second to none."
The Ibrox scheme is one of three proposed projects. The Scottish Conference and Exhibition Centre wants to build a casino in its grounds while a development company, in partnership with a Las Vegas hotel chain, wants to build by the riverside. All three depend on the Government's Gambling Act 2005, which provides for the development of regional casinos.
An independent advisory panel will recommend next year where they should be built.
David Jolliffe, Rangers finance director, said: "We are the first in the UK with planning permission from a council that wants a casino. It's a powerful combination.
"We're investing £200 million, creating 2,000 jobs, at least half of which will be recruited locally. Our plan is perfect for the wider Govan area."
Mr Jolliffe allayed fears that his casino would exacerbate the city's gambling addiction problems. "We will have programmes in place to help anyone who has a problem," he said.
Lesley Sawers, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: "A development like this would create 2,000 jobs, generate £30 million year on year, and develop Glasgow as a key tourist destination."
