Competition fears over regional casino
28th February, 2008
A casino in Swansea has expressed concerns over the government's plans to approve the development of another gaming house in the Welsh city.
Culture secretary Andy Burnham gave the green light for 16 new regional casinos across the mainland which he said offered a preferable alternative to previous plans to develop Las Vegas-style supercasinos.
Voicing concern over that announcement, however, the modestly-sized £13 million Salubrious Place casino in Swansea said that introducing a second casino gambling house could "drain life from the city centre".
Damian Aspinall of Aspers, the company that operates Salubrious Place, said that the new license would only be beneficial if it promoted the development of the city's existing entertainment district, rather than opening up competition outside in other districts.
"The city needs to build on the success of the existing central entertainment area which has got critical mass and which benefits from the diverse customer base brought by Aspers," he told the BBC.
Under government proposals, Swansea's new casino will be severely restricted in size to just 80 gaming machines and a maximum jackpot of £4,000.
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