SIMON THOMAS
Ask Simon
We’re delighted to introduce Hippodrome Casino’s Executive Chairman, Simon Thomas, as a new regular columnist in Casino International, answering your questions each and every month.
perspective of operating a large casino business in Leicester Square in central London. Over the past fourteen years at the Hippodrome, we have interpreted legislative change as an opportunity to innovate, expand and invest, helping drive a fundamental shift not just in how casinos are perceived, but in what they are and what they can be.
Question: “Can gambling ever be made ‘safe enough’ without over-regulating legitimate businesses and pushing consumers towards less safe alternatives?”
It’s a genuine pleasure to have been asked by Casino International to contribute a regular column answering questions from across the industry. There is certainly no shortage of them. By way of introduction, I come at this from the
That matters because while much is said about creating genuinely 24-hour cities, the reality - including in London - often falls short. Casinos remain among the very few entertainment businesses already capable of operating at that scale.
Through my work across the UK, Europe and the United States, one tension continues to resurface. In recent years, influenced by the anti-gambling lobby and reinforced through media and political
debate, the industry has increasingly come to be defined almost entirely by harm. With the sector now in that position, the preliminary question I want to consider is this:
Are we actually making gambling safer, or do we risk making it less safe?
Academic research has shown that gambling offers intellectual challenge and stimulation, opportunities for socialisation, suspense, surprise and escape from the everyday.
At the same time, we know that gambling can involve negative consequences for some participants and that these can include severe harms. The challenge for legislators and regulators is therefore how to strike a balance between giving adults the opportunity to live their lives as they choose and the need to prevent avoidable harm.
10 MAY 2026
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