The glitz and glamour we normally associate with Premiers at Leicester square in London will be seen in Swansea tonight as the £13 million Aspers Casino throws open it’s doors.
Wales’s biggest casino is expected to attract 10,000 people a week and see £4.5m spent on gambling over the course of the next year.
Set to employ over 300 people the new venture has been greeted with a warm reception in most parts of the city though predictably there are those who still believe the increased revenue for the local council as well as increased employment will come at a cost.
The Salvation Army fears the new casino will attract problem gamblers who are often the most vulnerable members of society.
But Aspers says it has a training programme to help staff spot problem gamblers and take appropriate action.
X Factor runner-up Ray Quinn is headlining on opening night which comes less than a week since sweeping new gambling laws were introduced in Britain.
The Salvation Army has criticised the changes, which allow operators to advertise on TV and radio for the first time, saying it feared they would "normalise" an addictive activity.
Major Peter Moran, divisional commander for the Salvation Army in south and mid Wales, said up to 370,000 people in the UK have gambling problems.
"There is evidence that shows the greater the opportunity, the more people are going to get into trouble."
He added: "Although this may be presented as an idea that will regenerate areas, actually there's no proof of that at this stage.
"In fact, most people are clear that it will probably create more problems because it's the poorer members of society who may actually be getting into trouble with problem gambling around the siting of these new casinos." Richard Noble, general manager of Aspers, emphasised the difference between modern and traditional casinos.
He said: "The old-style venues typically were smaller establishments, usually quite smoky - the restaurants and the bars were just purely there to offer a service to keep people at gaming tables.
"We're looking the complete opposite. All our ancillaries within Aspers, our restaurants, our bars, they're all businesses in themselves.
"Where the old-style casino, they welcomed people who were there to game, we welcome people here to enjoy themselves."
Swansea Council leader Chris Holley said people should remember that casinos had existed in Swansea, Cardiff and other cities for more than 40 years.
He said: "We have to remember modern casinos like Aspers are not just a place that you go for gambling, there's facilities for restaurants, it's an entertainment venue as well.
"I can understand people's concerns but I would be a lot more concerned if I was in the government about the online gambling that's taking place.
"That's virtually unregulated at the moment you know whereas the casinos are very well regulated and run by responsible people so I don't have a problem with that and they're not new, they're just bigger and better."
