Casino is gambling on Vegas lifestyle

UK - High rollers who play at Birmingham's Star City casino are the way forward for gambling, it was claimed today.

The £14 million venue, which aims to provide a "Vegas Experience", will put owner, book-maker and gaming operator Stanley Leisure, in pole position to attract more visitors when deregulation occurs, finance director Michael Riddy said.

Star City, which opened on November 22, is Britain's biggest casino with 40 gaming tables.

Although it was not included in figures released by the company yesterday, Mr Riddy said it represented the future of gambling in Britain.

Mr Riddy said: "We are pleased with the feedback we are getting from Star City. It is only early days, but it is getting up to 1,000 people per night.

"It has the highest attendance and highest drop of all our provincial casinos. A lot of interest been generated through word of mouth.

"Our other two casinos in Birmingham have been unaffected, so we must be increasing our market share and attracting newcomers."

No profit is expected in the first year of the casino, with the site being seen more as a long term generator of returns.

He said: "The Star City casino was built for a time when people will be able to go to the cinema and then go on straight on to the tables.

"It will be the future of gambling. We don't expect table gaming, roulette and black jack to increase, but the overall number of people visiting casinos to go up with people playing slot machines. At present less than three per cent of British people have visited a casino in the last year, we expect this number to rise to around ten per cent. Star City will be the first in a number of casinos around major cities." Mr Riddy said he expected deregulation to come sometime in 2005, which would allow more slot machines in casinos, advertising and an end to the 24 hour cooling off period before people were allowed to enter venues.

Stanley, which also runs the China Palace and Midland Wheel in Birmingham, said profits had been hit by a poor performance at its world renowned casino Crockfords in London. The Mayfair casino only managed to break even in the first half of 2003 after struggling to match record profits of £10.6 million in the previous year. Overall the Liverpool-based group experienced a 13 per cent fall in pretax profits to £21.5 million during the half year to October 26. Despite this, strong gains at Stanley's betting division helped group turnover soar 59 per cent to £752 million. Operating profits rose 44 per cent to £15.6 million, boosted by the introduction of 1,120 fixed-odds betting terminals - the most popular being the roulette game - into its betting shops over the half year. Pre-tax profits at the gaming division, which has 41 casinos, fell 31 per cent to £15.1 million, reflecting a significant reduction in the win margin at Crockfords.

Turnover in the division remained steady at £91.6 million, compared with £91.5 million previously.