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The slot machines at Aspers Westfield Stratford City
UNITED KINGDOM
A jackpot jump is set to provide a boost for the UK’s casinos at a time when they can use it most. While there is much need for more improvements to the regulations in Britain, operators have positioned themselves to take advantage of the expected upturn in the economy.
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he UK’s arcane gaming machine regulations took a step in the right direction on January 14 when stakes and prizes for category B1 machines, which only casinos are allowed to operate, increased by 150 per cent. The maximum stake rose from £2 (E2.42) to £5 (E6.06), while the maximum prize per individual machine increased from £4,000 (E4,850) to £10,000 (E12,115). The review also allows each casino to operate a single-site progressive with a maximum prize of £20,000 (E24,230). News of the first large wins came through about a week after the machines were upgraded. A bride-to-be won £10,237 (E12,402) at the G Casino in Birmingham, just a few weeks before her wedding. General manager Adrian Frost said: “It’s always nice to have a winner in the casino as it creates a really exciting
STAKES & PRIZES
Bigger prizes for UK players and casinos atmosphere. We’re especially thrilled to be one of the first casinos in the country to have a jackpot winner in the first week since the legislation changed.” A couple of days later, a player at Aspers Westfield Stratford City, the first 2005 Act large casino to open in the UK, walked away with a win of £12,664 (E15,347). Tony McPhee, head of slots and electronic at Westfield, said: “It’s great to see someone was able to scoop such a big win so soon after the new legislation came into force. Now we’re waiting to see if anyone can claim the full £20,000 progressive in the coming weeks.” The new regulations are expected to provide a big boost for casinos, even if the maximum prize is a long way off what players in other parts of the world can try for. The larger jackpots will fall more often at the country’s two 2005 Act Large casinos than at
the roughly 140 1968 Act legacy venues: the Aspers casino in Stratford and its sister venue in Milton Keynes to the north of London can each offer up to 150 gaming machines while the other venues are still restricted to just 20 units. The development of 2005 Act casinos continues, with the opening of Aspers Milton Keynes a highlight of the second half of the year. Genting is currently midway through construction of its Resorts World casino at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham, which is expected to open sometime in 2015 as the third venue. Genting has now by-andlarge completed its multi-million pound investment in the refurbishment of its UK estate - a move that has seen it swap sometimes down-at-heel locations for shiny, new and appealing venues competing for the modern leisure spend. Rank, which was the first of the
large UK operators to decide on a comprehensive modernisation of its estate, now has a whole new project in bringing the 19 casinos it acquired from Gala under the Grosvenor or G Casino banner: it is now officially the largest single operator in the country. Both groups reported steady, if not spectacular, results at various points last year, however, the steadily improving UK economy may be reflected in the results that will soon be released for the whole period. Steadiness in the face of a difficult market, and the levels of investment that operators have made are real achievements, especially when compared to Europe where casinos in certain jurisdictions, even those operating under nominally more liberal regimes than the UK, have suffered greatly from recession, the Eurozone crisis, competition and unimaginative reactions to them.
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ANALYSIS he new stakes and prizes will do a lot to improve the appeal of casinos to players: there are very few regular games accessible to all adults where such amounts can be won, bar the lottery. With people travelling more widely and experiencing casinos in other countries around the world, how pitiful and how old-fashioned the £4,000 top prize came to seem. But £10,000 and £20,000 - that’s getting attractive at just the right level, provided casinos can get their message out to players. With the economy now showing real signs of improving, this and the work that operators have done to maintain their customer base through the recession could really start to make a difference.
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