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Gambling industry Lobbying in UK |
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Big players lobbying for piece of the action
David Hencke, Westminster correspondent
Tuesday October 26, 2004
The Guardian
Lobbying companies and international investment banks played a big role in persuading the government to create a market for 24-hour casinos.
Ministers and MPs have been lobbied by the big players from Britain, the United States, South Africa and Australia. Worldwide players include the South African-owned Sun International; Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment ; MGM Mirage, the US and Australian-based casino operators; and Kerzner International, another US operator.
Many of the companies have used two or three lobbyists. One lobbying company, Quintus, ran half-day training programmes for executives from three of the biggest gaming companies on how to present their case to MPs and ministers.
Caesars Entertainment used them for the training and then employed Citigate Public Affairs, itself one of the big London lobbyists, to push their case with ministers.
One bank, CIBC, organised two private meetings with the Department for Culture for representatives of the casino industry. The bank also hosted a conference in New York last year to discuss worldwide investment opportunities and developing new markets. It financed the $1bn Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City with MGM Mirage, the first new casino to open in Atlantic City in 13 years.
The big casinos have found allies in local government to argue that expanding the gambling industry will attract more tourists to declining resorts such as Blackpool and Great Yarmouth to provide a source of new employment in the inner cities and rundown shopping centres.
Lobbyists have benefited from the decision of the government last year to set up a joint committee of the Commons and Lords to examine the case for a draft gambling bill which allowed companies a clear run for a year to influence parliament. MPs and peers on the committee - 14 of the 16 of whom have interests in gambling industry, from the Tote to London Clubs International, which operates casinos across the world - have been inundated with invitations to meet lobbyists.
The chairman of the committee, John Greenway, Conservative MP for Ryedale, who is paid ?10,000 a year as an adviser to College Hill, consultants to the Tote, is a contender to head the Gambling Commission, which will regulate the new casinos.
Alan Meale, Labour MP for Mansfield and a member of the committee, who has a share in a racehorse, said the lobbying had been incredibly aggressive. "Every week I was being bombarded by lobbyists representing various gaming companies who wanted to see me. Some have been really cheeky. One today managed to persuade my secretary that I had agreed to an appointment. I had it struck out."
The lobbying companies' thrust is that an expansion of casinos in an adult, crime-free environment will attract punters, create jobs and encourage gamblers to stay in Britain. |
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