Insight CAESARS EMEA Viv Ross
Viv Ross Compliance Manager of Caesars EMEA
Viv Ross, Compliance Manager of Caesars EMEA, is this month celebrating 40 years in the industry. Highly commended for a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Global Regulatory Awards, he has a wealth of experience in the sector, having previously worked at venues such as The Palm Beach Casino and the Sportsman Casino.
As well as overseeing compliance at Caesars, he has a strong interest in CSR initiatives and has a long track record of political service. He is a Liberal Democrat councilor in London and has been politically active for more than 20 years.
A lifetime spent in the service of the UK’s gaming industry
Having joined the gaming industry directly from the army, Caesars Entertainment EMEA’s Viv Ross has spent the last 40 years serving the UK casino sector and, quite remarkably, has been with the same company throughout his career
40 years in the industry - that’s easy maths - 1977, roughly 10 years after the 1968 Gaming Act was implemented. What was your first role in the industry?
I started working at Mecca’s Golden Nugget Casino on the seventh day of the seventh month, 1977, not realising then that it was such an auspicious day. When I started working at the casino I wouldn’t say that I was especially conscious of the 1968 Act, as it wasn’t something you really became aware of until taking on more senior roles. Te 1968 Act was something in the background and as far as I was aware at the time, it had primarily been enacted to prevent criminality in the industry. Before the Act came into force, the UK industry had seen a host of States-side businesses heading to this country. Te huge worry was that the UK casino sector was being infiltrated by organised crime and the Act was put in place to nip that in the bud.
As a dealer I started out on roulette. At that time Mecca was an entertainment and catering company run by General Manager, Eric Morley, of Miss World fame. I continued as a roulette dealer at the Golden Nugget for 18 months, before becoming a dice dealer at Tottenham Court Road for three years, then an inspector, learning blackjack and punto banco - inspecting all four games for a period of time. Entering junior management, I was a pit boss before I finally came to the compliance department 10 years ago, which means that I’ve (technically - as the company has changed name and ownership) been with the same company for 40 years.
It’s unheard of in the gaming industry to stay in one location with one company for so long… what happened?
At the time, the company had a concession to operate on the QE2 yacht, and I was offered the chance to deal dice on the ship and even to deal down in the South of France (Cannes). There were lots of opportunities to do that kind of thing if you were minded to see a bit of the world. My friends went to work in Vegas, Russia and on the cruise ships; I just never did. I’ve always been heavily into local politics and you can’t represent your local council while travelling round the world.
P46 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
I guess at certain times in your life you look to change, but during those times I got married, started a family and took out a mortgage. I enjoyed working nights and the thing I loved about the gaming tables is that it’s an ‘in-the-moment’ job. It’s very exciting, especially a game like dice, but as soon as you step away from the table, you don’t have to think about it any more. Tere’s no pressure or worry about hitting sales targets etc. You perform and then it’s done. And in those days it was 40 minutes on, 20 minutes off. Easy.
Figures suggest that there were 1,000 casinos in the UK before the 1968 Act. Was the sector flooded with dealers looking for work in the 70s?
Prior to the 1968 act, the law didn’t permit operators to site a permanent casino, so casinos would pop up in private locations until the police turned up and asked them to move on. So although there might have been 1,000 casinos in the UK before 1968, there certainly wasn’t a thousand properties. Te 1968 Act forced operators to find a permanent location as part of their licence. Speaking to dealers who were part of that era, the biggest change was the ban on tips. Tey’d been
earning huge amounts of money, driving E-Type Jaguars etc., but the 1968 Act stopped all that and meant that casino operators had to increase wages to make-up the shortfall. I think I was pretty well paid at the time, though I did take a pay cut when I became a dealer after leaving the army.
What were the opportunities for progression within Mecca at that time?
I had been in the business for 15 years and came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to be a dealer all my life. So, I took a course, learned all about the 1968 Act, what was allowed and not allowed, how to manage junior staff, put the right people on the right game etc. and moved into management for a seven-year stint. At the time, the company had a concession to operate on the QE2 yacht, and I was offered the chance to deal dice on the ship and even to deal down in the South of France (Cannes). Tere were lots of opportunities to do that kind of thing if you were minded to see a bit of the world. My friends went to work in Vegas, Russia and on the cruise ships; I just never did. I’ve always been heavily into local politics and you can’t represent your local council while travelling round the world.
The Blair government originally endorsed extensive liberalisation of the casino industry, allowing the market to dictate how many casinos would be in operation. What were your views of the proposals at the time - and now in hindsight?
Te potential was huge. Te 2005 Act was supposed to do away with requirements for casinos only within permitted areas and instead base the decision to site a casino the commercial opportunity. I remember at the time we were having to survey each casino, taking a count of every game and player passing through the door, keeping a tally to prove demand in that area. Te 1968 Act created permitted areas in which a city must have at least 250,000 people living there to qualify for a casino licence. Te rule meant that Luton was allowed a casino, but not Oxford, which seemed totally arbitrary. Te 2005 Act was to do away with that and create eight new large and eight new small casino licences in addition to several regional/resort style casinos.
Was the Budd Report (written by economist Alan Budd) flawed or was it the interpretation of the report that caused consternation? After all, the Blair government initially accepted all 176 proposals…
Sir Alan Budd and the Minister of State at the time visited the casino when I was working at the Palm Beach. One of the discussions was why the law insisted that players had to be members of a casino when you could visit Barcelona or Las Vegas and walk-in off the street. Te 24-hour cooling off period was actually 48 hours at one point and the whole point of that now seems ridiculous.
Faced with a backlash the government hastily rewrote parts of the draft legislation after attacks by
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94
