Operator News
UK – Genting and Grosvenor urge Scottish U-turn on closures
By Lewis - 11 November 2020
The UK’s two largest casino groups, Genting Casinos and Grosvenor Casinos, have launched an email campaign to reopen Scottish casinos under current Covid-19 restrictions. At present, all casinos in Scotland have closed as part of Scotland’s Level 2 restrictions, whereas hospitality venues such as bingo clubs and Adult Gaming Centres have been allowed to remain open. The campaign, titled The Chips Are Down – Save our Casinos, Save our Jobs, encourages the public to support their local casino and its employees, with an email to Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
The campaign states that despite casinos working hard to ensure all venues are covid-19 secure, and that customers and team members will be safe through scrupulous hygiene measures, PPE and social distancing, current Scottish Government restrictions means casinos must close their doors in Level 2. The Chips are Down argues that this makes no sense and that casinos are being singled out unfairly.
Out of 30,000 admissions through the doors, there has been one recorded case of coronavirus transmission within any casino in Scotland and both Genting and Grosvenor believe the decision to impose these restrictions is arbitrary. 87 per cent of casino customers say that they feel safer in casinos than in any other entertainment venue.
If Scottish casinos are forced to remain closed, it will have a devastating impact on those customers who enjoy their local venues as a community hub, on team members who will lose their jobs, on the local suppliers it serves, on the charities that they greatly support, including raising over £81,266, as well as on the wider economy, which will lose millions of pounds in tax receipts.
The Chips are Down campaign simplifies the lobbying process by creating an email form that needs only the name, email, the customer’s local casino they wish to support and a brief comment box explaining the reason why casinos are important to the campaigner. The email is formatted to appeal directly to the First Minister and with one click can be sent from a social media page directly to Nicola Sturgeon.
Here’s a link to the campaign if you’d like to share and support the cause. The Chips are Down
