UK Casinos' Revenue Increases As Visitor Numbers Soar To 16.6m

Not only have the UK’s 143 casinos seen their visitors numbers increase over the past few years, from 15.1m in 2007, 16.2m in 2008 and 16.6m last year, but revenue has also steadily been on the rise, too.
Despite troubling times for the UK economy, land based casinos have been enjoying a mini-boom helped, for the most part, by a number of reforms to Britain’s gambling laws introduced by the Labour government.
As the UK economy started to suffer in the global downturn, the Labour government went on the offensive and introduced reforms to Britain’s antiquated gambling laws. Amendments which have been seen as largely contributing to the improved situation are the creation of the Gambling Commission, no more 24-hour screening period required before a person can become a member of a casino and a credit card now being considered a sufficient means of identification.
However, the casinos have been master’s of their own fate too, and one group pioneering a novel approach of boosting visitors numbers by providing the right mix of games and entertainments offered by the casino is Rank, and the group’s chain of G branded casinos.
As Ian Burke, CEO of Rank explains; “We’ve tried to turn the casino into a mainstream leisure experience, with food and entertainment as well as gambling. The average spend per head is £30-£35. We are still seeing strong growth in admissions and it’s worked very well for us.”
One game that had been notably absent from many casinos had been poker, as too much room space was usually required with only a limited rake going to the house. However, with Britain’s 20-slot limit restrictions, the introduction of poker tournaments to the casinos is being seen as an increasingly important means of attracting more visitors to the casinos, as well as providing extra “entertainment” and bar sales.
As the British government and UK casinos continue to benefit from reforms to the industry, the news that casinos in the UK are reporting record numbers of visitors is also being seen as a positive sign that the domestic recession may also be nearing its end.