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EUROPE by Graeme Kidd
online gambling,” says Goudsmit. “Online gambling is an important issue – some casino
companies are involved with it, others want to be involved and are waiting, and some are
A
ll is not rosy in the European Casino market, according to Ron Goudsmit, suffering unfair competition, from services that come cross-border from territories where
Chairman of the European Casino Association (ECA). He explains that generic taxation and licence costs are much lower… there is not a level playing field, and that is
trends for Europe are usually difficult to identify because of the huge differ- what we are really looking for across Europe,” he adds.
ences between national casino industries, in terms of casino sizes and in terms
of regulations, but reckons that one clear, Europe-wide trend has emerged: EUROVEGAS
“Casinos in Europe are going through difficult times. Business is down in all countries.” And of course there is the looming threat, or opportunity, of a couple of ‘EuroVegas’ proj-
ects: the Gran Scala casino resort in Los Monegros, Spain, and two supercasino projects in
SMOKING BANS Hungary. There is some doubt whether a casino will indeed be built near Bezenye in the
And it’s not just the economic downturn that’s at the root of this. Unsurprisingly, smok- province of Györ-Moson-Sopron, but it was certainly on the cards for a while. Work is
ing bans are part of the problem: “As more and more countries introduce a smoking ban, it understood to have started on a huge complex on the island of Hajógyári-Sziget in the
is having an enormous effect,” he adds. Danube, north of Budapest.
The UK experience, which saw some Scottish operators of casino and bingo facilities fac- There’s still doubt as to the viability of such large-scale European developments –
ing a 15 per cent drop in revenue when the smoking ban took effect, looks likely to be Goudsmit is not alone in taking a ‘wait and see’ approach. “These giant resorts are the one
rolled out across Europe with widely-held predictions of double-digit revenue falls. main thing being talked about,” he says. “But its is very questionable whether giant resorts
But it’s not just differences in regulatory systems between countries that stops Europe from are going to work in Europe because it is such a fragmented market.”
being a homogenous casino market, following generic trends. Within Spain, for instance, “There’s been a lot of talk about the Hungarian projects, but there isn’t very much that is
there is a national legal framework, but regulation and taxation of the country’s current 43 really substantial. I know Harrah’s is going forward with a major project in Spain, but I hear
casinos falls to regional government. In the case of smoking, there is a national Spanish regu- that that’s not going to the size that it was originally intended to be.” And that’s separate to
lation, according to Heliodoro Giner, the General Secretary of the Spanish Casino the massively ambitious Los Monegros resort project.
Association, but there isn’t a total ban on smoking. “There is a general national regulation The local view, in Spain at least, echoes Goudsmit’s: “Gran Scala is a new concept in Europe
that the provinces have to implement,” Giner says, “but instead of a total ban, 30 percent of – the first ‘American way, low taxation casino in Europe’ but it’s still too early in the day to pre-
the floor area can be used to provide smoking areas. That still makes operations more diffi- dict its impact,” says Giner, SCA’s General Secretary. “It is being watched closely, and promises
cult, with 80 percent of customers wanting to use 30 percent of the available space.” to become an icon – not just for the Spanish market, but for Europe as a whole – but will it be
Because the smoking regulation has been implemented differently in Spain, region by big enough to attract the audiences it needs, from Europe and indeed the rest of the world?”
region, the overall impact is difficult to assess. The European market is reasonably well served by local casinos, so for a project on the
In the context of global economic pressures and smoking regulations, Spanish casinos are grand scale of Gran Scala to succeed it must either grow the European market or attract
looking to be 18-20 per cent down year on year. “Smoking regulations will lead to a reduc- new customers into Europe. Unlike new projects in Malaysia, Vietnam, or indeed Macau,
tion of at least 10 per cent in revenue, maybe more,” Giner estimates. Gran Scala does not sit close to a huge market of people who have not been able to visit
casinos…but on the other hand, there is a huge European population within a three-hour
REGULATORY PLAYING FIELDS flight time of the Gran Scala site.
The overall regulatory debate in Europe is one of the key concerns of the ECA, with par- Similar arguments can be made for the Hungarian supercasino resort complex. Concepts,
ticular regard to online gaming. It is clear that individual court cases are not resolving the or due to become reality? More will become clear in time for next year’s Casino
tangle… “We recently heard that the European Parliament may be starting a study on International Calendar…
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