Gaming Giant Aspers Interested in Southampton Casino

Aspers Group, the gaming company who established the UK’s largest casino in the Stratford district of London, has plans for a similar venue in the Southampton region.  Southampton was one of several districts granted a casino license by the UK Gambling Commission and Aspers is preparing for discussions with city council to discuss construction and design plans regarding a new casino.

Once the license had been granted by the Gambling Commission, Southampton council reviewed the rules that would open up the bidding floor to interested operators.  After debating the rules, council voted in favour of beginning the bidding process, which will grant the winning bidder the rights to establish a casino in the area.

Aspers have yet to make an official bid on the casino rights, but council has confirmed talks are underway with the gaming giant.  They have spoken specifically with Aspers Head of Finance Martyn Kennedy, who asked that the rule requiring a minimum number of staff members to correlate with the number of punters in the casino be done away with.  Kennedy wrote to council that Aspers has experience meeting the demands of nearly 25,000 gamers in the London supercasino every week, and that these restrictions would be harmful for business.

“Any onerous ratios will significantly affect the viability of our business and the benefits to the council.”

However, Aspers has agreed to pay Southampton council £1 million a year from revenue made at the casino, if they win the bidding process.  Aspers have also supported the Royal Pier as the location for the casino, which council has publicly stated is their preferred location.  This location could house a casino large enough to house 150 slot machines, and over 30 table games for poker, blackjack, and roulette.