LEEDS AND BATH Change brings


recently, Bath. Paul Sculpher, in his role as Managing Director, Strategy and Operations, GGV, is involved with both casinos and brings us his unique perspective on the projects.


The UK has enjoyed two new casino openings in recent times, in Leeds and most


Century Casino, Bath Century Casino, Bath T 50 NOVEMBER 2018


he 2005 Gambling Act is now regarded as ancient history and while it has many imperfections, and some would argue missed opportunities, from a personal perspective it was a fantastic opportunity to get in at the ground floor of what appeared to be an imminent sea change in the nature of the UK casino industry. It might not have worked out quite that way for many, but


by leaving my job as GM of Aspers Newcastle in 2008, I was in a good position to take advantage. I was able to work my way into the group of 16 local councils who had the right to award a 2005 Act licence, and six of them eventually engaged me to be their casino specialist at some point during the process. Seeing how the process worked was quite an education –


from some spectacular application documents to some that were more … rudimentary. Nonetheless, it was a valuable experience and as a result I was asked to help write the ultimately successful licence application for the GGV project in Leeds, for a “Large” licence (as well as their


unsuccessful Southampton application, and the successful Jomast application in Middlesbrough). One opportunity led to another and before I knew it I had


a new role as Operations Director, and was tasked with taking the Leeds and Bath operations from theoretical constructs on paper to living breathing operating casinos. The Leeds project was still under the wing of GGV, a UK independent, while the Bath project passed to global player Century Casinos, as their initial foray into the UK to go along with their widespread portfolio of international casino operations.


A tale of two cities


There was a fairly uncomfortable period when it looked like Leeds and Bath were going to be scheduled to open more or less simultaneously. This would have been a bit of a logistical nightmare or at the very least would have led to some dilution of focus, but a combination of funding delays for Bath and the timing of the disposal of the Bath licence to Century brought valuable breathing space, and in the end


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