Member Article

GamCare co-founder makes case for ‘British Vegas’

Co-founder of gambling addiction charity GamCare Dr Mark Griffiths has made the case for a gambling destination resort in Britain. Talking to RightCasino.com, the Professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent University explained that such a resort would not only allow Britain to better compete on the international stage as a leisure destination, but be ethically responsible.

“We talked about what we called a ‘centralised gaming model,’ which is basically destination resort gambling,” he reasoned, “In a way that’s probably the most socially responsible way of controlling gambling - having a Mecca for people to come where there are just dozens and dozens of casinos.”

Such a resort would see people pre-commit to gambling in a dedicated environment– something that Dr Griffiths views as more socially responsible than offering fruit machines in non-dedicated gambling spaces such as pubs and chip shops.

However, he added the proviso that such a gambling resort would have to be situated “outside of a major city” to avoid impacting negatively on the lives of existing inhabitants. Although he predicted some initial resistance from the public, he pointed out that the lottery was launched amid widespread controversy in 1994:

“If you said now we’re going to get rid of the national lottery now there would be a public outcry. It’s so embedded within British culture,” he said. “My guess is if you add a destination resort, what you’d have is something that England would probably be proud of.”

Currently, less than 5% of British people visit casinos annually.

Will Britain Welcome More Super Casinos?

The legislative foundations for a localised ‘super casino’ industry were established in the 2005 Gambling act, but the UK’s first ‘large casino complex’ (Aspers in Westfield, Stratford) only opened in December 2011, in time to catch the Olympic rush. But why the six year delay?

Dr Griffiths personally stood at the forefront of initial plans to bring major casino complexes to Britain. He recalled co-organising an official bid for a super casino in Manchester.

“I was very proud to be part of that bid when everyone thought it would go to Blackpool or it would go to Sheffield.”

All plans to construct British super casinos were shot down by a former head of state: “The real reason why super casinos were stopped is Gordon Brown. It was his first decision when he took over from Tony Blair. As a Presbyterian he was basically anti-gambling and that was a classic top down decision that was made.”

However, the success of Aspers (which experienced footfall of 30,000 people on its opening day) suggests that there is definitely a place for substantial casino complexes in British cities. Dr Griffiths was confident that the public would flock to new super casinos outside the capital, thus swelling the national coffers and contributing to urban regeneration.

“I can definitely see a future Conservative or Labour government introducing maybe four to six super casinos across the country as something that will bring in tourists and regenerate some of those areas.”

Throughout his career, Dr Mark Griffiths has supported a well-regulated, socially responsible gambling industry that prevents adolescent gambling. He hopes that gambling operators will adopt the Camelot business model which relies on the, “vast majority of the population spending small amounts of money and making huge profits” in order to curb problem gambling.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Philip Jeffery .