BGC rails against “shambolic” casino closures as government climbs down from reopening
Trade body blasts “bizarre and wrong” decision as casinos remain closed until 15 August following localised Covid-19 spike
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has slammed the UK government’s decision to keep casinos closed until 15 August as “highly illogical, inconsistent and deeply damaging” for the sector as it prepared to return following the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter to UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the trade body decried the “disarray” of the government’s approach to dealing with the pandemic, citing differing measures for different industries.
“Why, for example, should casinos in Bristol, where there are low recorded cases of Covid, remain closed when the spikes in Covid are in other parts of the country?” the BGC wrote.
“It is also the case that the new restrictions are supposed to be focused on households not mixing – not on closing businesses,” the trade body added.
Under the prior relaxation of lockdown measures, casinos across England had been expected to reopen at the weekend on 1 August, ending a five-month absence which has proved extremely costly for the land-based sector.
However, the government climbed back from the reopening, instead ordering the closure of English casinos for a further two weeks until 15 August at the earliest.
It is understood the decision is in response to localised Covid-19 spikes across the north of England, which have led to stricter lockdown measures in cities including Manchester, Blackburn, Oldham and Bradford.
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In a letter to The Times, Rank Group CEO John O’Reilly said the sector had been successfully working within the government’s Covid-19 operating standards for some time, insisting that casinos were safe for punters to return.
“The only thing that has changed is that since we were given 1 August as the date to reopen, we started to put costs back into the business, only to have the rug pulled out from under our feet a few hours before we expected to start welcoming back our customers,” O’Reilly wrote.
“For every week that Grosvenor casinos remain closed we are incurring net cash losses of £1.5m. Moreover, the continued closure of Grosvenor’s 51 casinos is costing the Treasury nearly £2m a week in furlough payments and a similar amount in lost gaming taxes,” he added.
Genting UK’s Jon Duffy said: “After weeks of meticulous planning, we find it incredible that we have been given less than 24 hours’ notice on this change of plan, which in itself has caused huge damage to the business.
“Significant numbers of staff have been brought back from furlough to prepare for the reopening and this is devastating news for our entire team, who now face further worry and uncertainty,” he added.
BGC CEO Michael Dugher claimed the sector could face “significant redundancies” as casino operators will be required to pay national insurance contributions to furloughed employees in August, despite having to remain closed.
“As furlough payments are phased out, there will be no flexibility for casinos to adapt to the new working and leisure environment when they are eventually allowed to reopen,” the BGC CEO claimed.
The land-based casino sector in England employs 14,000 individuals contributing £5.7m to the UK treasury in taxation revenue per week.