Is super casino a winner or is it all spin? (Cardiff – UK)
(source: Western Mail March 1, 2006)
Is super casino a winner or is it all spin?
David Williamson, Western Mail
Cardiff’s bid to become the home of a regional casino is officially launched today. Supporters of the project claim it will make possible the creation of a £700m International Sports Village which will host athletes in the London 2012 Olympics. But the campaign coincides with the publication of a major report which concludes such casinos threaten to “wreck lives and bring no economic benefit for Britain’s towns and cities”. David Williamson looks at the case for and against supporting the biggest expansion of gambling in Wales..
For
The concept of a regional casino in Cardiff Bay has united and excited Labour and Liberal Democrat politicians.
Former First Minister Alun Michael and council leader Rodney Berman will today join forces to argue a casino will bring economic benefits to the capital.
They will be joined by Sir Steve Redgrave, Colin Jackson, Lynn Davies, Jamie Baulch, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and John Harris in support of Cardiff’s bid to become an Olympic host city for 2012.
The two bids are linked by the argument that the International Sports Village can only be completed in time to host Olympians if Cardiff is chosen as the venue to build a regional casino.
The logic is that if the Government agrees to Cardiff as a site for a regional casino, the project will release cash which can be channelled into the building of the sports village, ensuring it is completed by 2010.
This attraction includes a 50m swimming pool, spas, a snow box, a 4,000-seat multi-purpose arena, and an ice pad suitable for international competition, as well as hotels and bars.
The casino bid is made in partnership with the UK-Australian operator Aspers.
Aspers has teamed up with local community leaders to launch a working group in Cardiff to promote responsible gaming. Community Action for Responsible Gaming (Carg) will be made up of a cross-section of the community in Cardiff, including representatives from churches, inter-faith groups, the police and Cardiff Council to address the concerns of local people.
Damian Aspinall, who co-founded Aspers with the Packer Organisation, will attend today’s event.
He said, “We are also determined to be good corporate citizens of Cardiff and to offer the best gaming and leisure product to our customers in a responsible manner.”
The project is part of a mixed regeneration development intended to be the catalyst for a wide range of further activities. An anticipated 3.5 million will visit the development each year, spending £270m.
As well as spurring the building of new road and water transport links, the initiative is predicted to create around 5,000 jobs.
The Gambling Act, recently passed by Parliament, allows for only one regional casino.
Cardiff Council, along with other local authorities, is calling for the number to be increased in line with the original bill to Parliament for eight regional casinos.
Professor Peter Collins, director at the Centre of Study of Gambling at the University of Salford, which is sponsored by Lottery operator Camelot, believes a regional casino would have a positive effect on the Welsh capital.
He said, “In Cardiff it would bring about £120m of investment in facilities that would benefit non-gamblers… the evidence from around the world is quite clear – that introducing large casinos does not automatically lead to an increase in problem gambling or other negative social impacts.
“On the contrary, it can lead to a decline in problem gambling numbers provided the introduction of the casino is accompanied by an appropriate public awareness campaign.”
He added, “I would say that a regional casino in Cardiff will not solve the problems of deprivation but you will find that it will give a very substantial kick-start to economic development in the area and the benefits would very substantially outweigh the cost.”
Against
The idea that having a regional casino on your doorstep will boost prosperity is dealt a blow in a new report from regeneration consultancy Hall Aitken.
The research led by Paul Buchanan concluded:
The estimates of economic benefit from a regional casino development are both optimistic and potentially misleading;
The social costs of regional casino development are potentially high and, for most locations, would outweigh any economic benefit; and
The proposed regional casino will, on balance, undermine government targets on neighbourhood regeneration.
The agency, whose clients include the Big Lottery Fund, did not specifically study the impact on Wales or the Cardiff campaign, but sought to balance the claims of supporters of regional casinos with evidence collected worldwide.
They were surprised by the gap between the data they collected and the pronouncements made by local authorities wanting to win the bid to host the one regional casino.
Mr Buchanan said yesterday, “We would have thought people who were lobbying so fiercely for such a controversial development would have done their homework. People need to take a step back and take a cold look at the facts.”
In its assessment of the economic impact, it found:
It is unclear how much spend will be retained locally – any tax gains will be distributed nationally rather than locally;
Most spend will be diverted from other leisure activities.
Commenting on the social impact, Mr Buchanan writes, “The proposed regional casino will generate (and depend upon) a significant increase in gambling expenditure. Evidence from research undertaken in the USA, backed up by the Henley Centre report, suggests the number of problem gamblers will nearly double by 2010.
“The number of problem gamblers in the UK will increase by some 38% as a direct result of the new Act.
“And data from the Pion report suggests that 260,000 new people (equivalent to a city the size of Nottingham) would take up gambling as a result of a regional casino opening.”
In an analysis of six cities it calculated the rise in costs of problem gambling would vary between £15m to more than £60m.
Evidence from Nevada found 32% of Gambling Anonymous participants worked in casinos. Problem gamblers are two-to-three times more likely to lose their job over the course of a year.
Atlantic City in New Jersey introduced large-scale gambling in the hope it would spur regeneration, but it resulted in a noticeable rise in homelessness, no decrease in unemployment, and a significant increase in overall crime.
The report concludes, “The impacts of problem gambling on health, employment, crime, homelessness and equality are well documented.
“These impacts will be felt more strongly within the local communities closest to the new casino.
“Our opinion, based on international evidence, is that the social impacts of any significant increase in problem gambling will undermine key areas of the Government’s current social inclusion and neighbourhood renewal strategy.”
Welsh Conservatives have also cautioned against over-selling the alleged benefits of a casino.
The only venue in Wales which will definitely take part in the Olympic Games is the Millennium Stadium.
A spokeswoman for London 2012 yesterday said talk of other events being held outside the capital was speculation.
Date Posted: 01-Mar-2006
