More than half of Britain’s casinos are too small to benefit from the planned increased cap on gaming machines
Under proposals in the long-delayed gambling white paper, bricks-and-mortar casinos had been told that the present limit of 20 machines would be raised to 80 to enable them to compete with online casinos.
However, a section of the white paper in fact limits the fourfold increase to larger premises, excluding about 70 of the UK’s 121 casinos from the rule relaxation.
Shares in Rank Group, the owner of Grosvenor Casinos, had risen last week as analysts calculated that the new machine limit could boost its operating profit by as much as £37m, but watchers of the group will now have to revise their estimates.
