The UK ought to do more to attract foreign gamblers to its casinos, it has been claimed.
Warwick Bartlett, chief executive of Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, has urged the UK government to re-think its strategy towards casinos.
“Gambling tourism is a growing trend where people take holidays to go to resorts such as Las Vegas and Macau even though most economies are in recession,” he said. “Countries such as Singapore, US Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Armenia, Belize and Cambodia have all adopted a casino policy that is designed to attract gamblers from neighbouring countries to good effect.”
Research by the company shows that Singapore’s new integrated casino resorts will add two per cent to the country’s GDP in a full year of operation. In Turks and Caicos, meanwhile, gross gaming yield represents nearly five per cent of GDP.
This, suggested Bartlett, demonstrates the growing importance of gambling tourism.
“Native American tribes have or are in the process of transforming their casino assets into leisure resorts that include golf, spas and conference and exhibition facilities,” he said. “The UK has few hotel casinos and is missing out on what has now become a significant boost to a country’s tourist industry.”
Under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, the UK government awarded a ‘super casino’ licence to Manchester in 2007, only for the plan to be axed the following year by Gordon Brown.
