Stanley
Leisure takes £100m gamble on revamping casinos
As
Reported by edinburghnews.com
UNITED
KINGDOM - STANLEY Leisure, the British gambling group,
today outlined plans to invest more than £100 million
over the next five years on revamping its casinos.
The
group, whose 41-strong casino portfolio includes three
venues in Edinburgh, is making the investment to cash
in on the relaxation of UK gaming laws.
Money
will be targeted at raising the number of slot machines
in its four London casinos and 37 regional casinos as
well as refurbishing a number of sites.
Details
emerged as Stanley, which agreed to sell off its betting
shops to William Hill in May for £504m, posted a
four per cent fall in pre-tax profits before goodwill
amortisation of £40.1m during the year to May 1.
Chief executive Bob Wiper said: "In aggregate these
plans could add over 50 per cent to the size of our gaming
floor space over the next five years."
Stanley
will return £325m to shareholders - equivalent to
250 pence a share - once the deal with William Hill is
completed.
Buying the betting shops ensured William Hill leapfrogged
Ladbrokes as the UK's biggest bookmaker. Profits from
Stanley's casinos increased 30 per cent during the year
under review to £33.7m and the group said its new
financial year had begun "satisfactorily".
Giving
his response to deregulation in the gaming industry, Mr
Wiper said the final shape of the Gambling Act 2005 "was
not what any of us expected" and a long way from
the free market that was initially recommended. But it
contained a number of positive points including changes
to membership rules, increased stake levels and more slot
machines.
"We
are making plans to capture the benefits of the relaxation
of the membership and marketing rules as soon as the new
Act is implemented," Mr Wiper added.
Magna
won't seek Pa. horse racing license
As
Reported by Yahoo! Finance
The
Canadian horse racing company that had flirted with seeking
a thoroughbred license in Pennsylvania for more than a
year and a half is now officially a scratch.
Magna
Entertainment Corp., the Toronto-based horse racing company
that owns such prominent American thoroughbred racetracks
as Santa
Anita Park in Arcadia Calif., Gulfstream
Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla. and Pimlico
in Baltimore, told the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission
Friday that it is withdrawing from the license race in
Pennsylvania.
MEC's
withdrawal leaves three applicants for the state's last
thoroughbred license.
Through
its subsidiary, MEC Pennsylvania Racing, MEC runs The
Meadows, the standardbred racing track in Meadow Lands,
Washington County.
The
horse racing commission plans to hold public meetings
in the fall at the site of the two Allegheny County sites
and the one Northampton County site that have been proposed
for Pennsylvania's next thoroughbred track.
Gregg
Scoggins, national director of Regulatory Affairs for
MEC, said he informed the horse racing commission that
MEC was withdrawing and would follow that up with a letter
of withdrawal.
Scoggins wouldn't say why MEC was withdrawing, but with
the state's gaming law not guaranteeing a slots license
to the owner of the racetrack, the interest in the license
deteriorated.
Pennsylvania
has two thoroughbred tracks and two standardbred tracks.
Presque Isle Downs, another thoroughbred racetrack, is
going to be built in Summit Township near Erie.
The
planners of the track, MTR Gaming Group Inc. owners of
the Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in Chester
W. Va., are working on a timeline for the track's construction.