Italian punters depress Stanley
Gaming group Stanley Leisure today said gamblers in London and Italy had taken the shine off an impressive performance at its provincial casinos.
Attendance has boomed by 17% at the firm’s 41 casinos outside London to help the company report increased annual operating profits before exceptional items of £33.4m (€49m) – up by 11% from £30.2m (€44.2m) last year.
It said the scrapping of laws requiring gamblers to be a member for 24 hours before attending venues had helped boost interest in its provincial sites.
However, the company said it had recorded “material losses” to a number of major players in London in recent weeks.
It also reported record levels of business for its international betting arm thanks to the World Cup, but admitted the final outcome had not been positive.
The firm said: “Unfortunately, with much of this business being generated through our Italian agents, the results of the games were not good from our point of view and has led to a negative contribution from this tournament.”
Stanley leisure's betting division had included 660 shops across the UK and 51 in Ireland. The company no longer keeps a presence on the high street after selling its estate of bookmakers to William Hill for £504m (€734m).
