Ladbrokes have pulled out of the running for the government’s planned 16 new casinos.
A spokesman for Ladbrokes said, “We have conducted a review of our casino strategy and have decided to withdraw from the process due to the length of time it would take to generate sufficient return on the capital spend required.”
It is expected that Culture Minister, James Purnell is to announce that the proposed supercasino in Manchester will be scrapped.
However, he will give the all-clear for 8 large and 8 small casinos to be opened in what remains of the government’s casino expansion policy.
The decision by Ladbrokes not to bid for these casino licences has raised the question of whether or not other major gaming operators will bid for these new casinos.
The land-casino industry has taken a battering over the past year. What with the casino duty increase in the budget, the smoking ban which has turned away punters and the removal of certain gaming machines as part of the Gambling Act.
The licences for the 16 casinos attracted many bids from local authorities as they saw it as great way of regenerating their local economies.
However, if these plans fall by the wayside it would be the final insult for a policy which at one time envisaged 40 supercasinos being built across the country. The government had to ditch these plans as it was alleged that ministers had links to US operators and the policy had a huge backlash.
In 2000, Ladbrokes looked like leaving the casino industry when it sold 26 of its Ladbrokes casinos to Gala coral when it was part of the Hilton Group.
Although more recently it seems Ladbrokes have been trying to get back into the casino market. A couple of years ago, it opened a new casino in the Paddington Hilton Hotel in London. Ladbrokes were also behind Blackpool’s failed bid for the supercasino and had planned to bid for half of the new 16 casinos.
Ladbrokes’ withdrawal from bidding for the new casinos effectively stops rumours of the firm launching a takeover of the Rank Group. The casino and bingo operator has seen its revenue decline over the past year and has been rumoured that it will be taken over by a gaming group.
It isn’t all entirely bad news for the government. Gala Coral, which owns 30 casinos has said it was “keeping our options open” about bidding for the 16 new casinos. Las Vegas Sands, Harrah’ Entertainment, Genting and the Rank Group are all likely to be interested.
