Large casino

A large casino must have a minimum of 1500m2 of total customer area and be permitted up to 150 Category B gaming machines with a maximum jackpot of £4,000.

There is more than one potential site within the city centre offering the opportunity of a large casino and mixed form of development but the current preferred location has been identified as the prominent waterfront site at Royal Pier. The preferred development site is also expected to include a significantly expanded Mayflower Park and offer a permanent home for the renowned Southampton International Boat Show, the largest waterborne show in Europe and a key contributor to the local economy.

A large casino in the city will bring significant benefits:

• increased employment, training and skills
• regeneration, both social and physical
• and, diversification of the night time economy within the city and broadening the age group of users.

A casino operator will be required to work very closely with the city council to provide educational programmes at secondary schools, as well as training facilities for staff that will fill more than 100 job classifications.

The council is aware that there is a concern about and potential for adverse social impact due to:

• encouraging addictive behaviour with potential health impacts
• increased debt and poverty
• negative impact on family cohesion
• and, increased crime and anti social behaviour.

We acknowledge that a small minority of the adult population is unable to gamble responsibly and that a safety net is needed to minimise potential harm. However we do believe there will be a limited increase in access to gambling opportunities? By comparison, Internet gambling can be carried on with virtually no control in the privacy of one’s home and is currently readily available. Whereas at a large casino, gambling would take place in a controlled environment that is subject to strict regulatory controls and severe penalties for lack of compliance with these controls.

In addition to the council’s current Health and Wellbeing Strategy we consider that the following services would have to be developed:

• increased support services to tackle addiction
• increased support services for families
• and, the need for debt advice services.

We will ensure that the any potential operator will provide a substantial initial endowment and proactive and positive ongoing contributions to programmes to address problem gambling and assist individuals who are unable to gamble responsibly as a result of any new casino being built in the city.

The council will deal with risk of increased crime and anti-social behaviour in the vicinity of the building through the existing procedures of design out crimes, securely designated car parks and linkage to the Council CCTV systems. The casino operator would also have to invest heavily in its own private security measures within and in the vicinity of the building.

There are several phases to go through in the possible development of a large casino:

• Full council, consisting of 48 councillors, has to agree (as part of the democratic process) to a revised version of the Gambling Act Statement of Principles, which will set out what it expects from a new casino operator in relation to the above matters (subject to secondary legislation and government guidance).
• Any individual applications made will be subject to a rigorous process, and decision by the council’s Licensing Committee, again subject to secondary legislation and government guidance, to ensure the above objectives and concerns are met.
• Other regulatory permissions will be required such as planning and Licensing Act permissions, as with any other form of leisure and mixed use development.

The revised Statement (referred to above) will be subject to a full and open consultation process before council makes a decision.

Any application for a casino licence will be subject to a specific application process upon which the public, or any interested party will be welcome to comment. However, there may be commercial considerations which will be considered in private

It is anticipated that any revised Statement will be considered by council on a date in the future once secondary legislation is in place. Additionally, in light of the current economic recession, it is unlikely that the matter will be considered before 2012.