22/06/2011, Casino

According to a recent report of the independent business services firm Ernst and Young on the British gambling market, the UK Gambling Act 2005 has limited the capacity of existing casinos to create new products.

Last month, the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt declared: "the Act hasn’t worked” and there had been a “whole series of problems with it”. The UK Gambling Act was created to support the expansion of the casino industry, to encourage new products and the development of the market. However, the legislation has only managed to slow down the growth of the industry.

The Ernst and Young report made several suggestions that could reanimate the land based casinos, generating an additional GBP 45 million in annual revenue for the Treasury.

Here are some of the recommendations:
- Gaming machines to be allowed inside the land-based casinos;
- A five-to-one machines to tables ratio should be extended across all casinos;
- Local authorities should be given greater power to decide the location of the casinos.

Michael Silberling, president of the National Casino Industry Forum told the newspaper: “It’s time to take some of these words and put them into action. I think the UK would be grateful for more jobs, more capital investment and more taxes. The time is now, not later.”