That's entertainment

JOHN Kelly could be called an adrenaline junkie. On the surface, the chief executive of Gala Casinos is a sober-suited businessman. Underneath, he is searching for the ultimate rush.

He confesses to being addicted to caffeine, he rides a motorbike in his limited spare time and his words flow like a torrent.

And when it comes to talking about bingo, his eyes gleam with excitement. 'The adrenaline starts running when you need only one number to come up,' he says. 'Just imagine that on a £5,000 game!'

He is passionate about what he does - hardly surprising when you know he hails from a family with 150 years in entertainment. Kelly's great-great-grandfather travelled the country showing enthralled audiences the ' Myriorama', still pictures on a moving canvas. When films came, the family embraced them, running a chain of cinemas.

'It's in my blood,' says Kelly, 55. But instead of going into the family business, he left school to join Granada where he spent the next 17 years working in cinema management, television, retail sales and then bingo in the Seventies. Kelly then joined Mecca as head of bingo, but his link with Granada came full circle when he bought Gala, and with it Granada's bingo business, with private backing. 'What goes around comes around,' he says.

He then launches into a description of Gala's bingo hall in Tooting, south-west London. 'It's an extraordinary building, designed by a Russian, that showed silent movies,' he says. 'The Wurlitzer organ is still under the caller's podium.'

Kelly is keen to change the common view of bingo halls. He says: 'People think that bingo is full of grey-haired grannies with stockings round their ankles - it absolutely is not - and that there are no young people. In fact, 48% of new members are aged 18 to 35.'

The average customer spends £20, of which £8.54 goes back to Gala for costs and profit. The rest goes on prizes, and Kelly bridles at the suggestion that it's not cheap. 'People are in there for two hours getting beer, food, entertainment and the chance of winning,' he says. 'It's also one of the few places where you get a whole family together for an evening.'

Kelly often turns up at his own clubs to chat to customers. 'It's all very well swanning in, meeting the manager then leaving, but you've got to get into the roots of the business,' he says. He has learned that customers can be fickle. 'They're a promiscuous lot,' he says. 'They'll go where the prize money is best. But that's happening less now as brands become stronger.'

If bingo is no longer old ladies and 'two little ducks', then Gala's other business, casinos, is more Brooke Bond than James Bond. 'You don't see many white dinner jackets,' he says. 'It's taxi drivers spending £50 and staying for four hours.'

Gala has 40% of the bingo market, so expansion is difficult. But it is another story with its 28 casinos. Kelly says: 'If we get a chance to buy more we'll do it, but we won't overpay. We'll probably grow the business through new building. After deregulation, we'll have a look at our whole portfolio and we'll see what we can do.'

Gala is one of the main beneficiaries of the relaxation of the gaming market, which makes Kelly very happy. 'The Budd Report for the Government on deregulation is more radical than I thought,' he says. 'They're removing the limits on prizes and allowing more frequent games. It's terrific.'

Bigger prizes? 'There's no reason why we couldn't have £1m bingo,' says Kelly. 'But low prize community bingo will stay. Yes, people go to win, but also for the unique environment.'

Gala is also talking to other leisure operators, such as Arena Leisure, about expansion. Kelly says: 'We could see a Gala casino at an Arena racecourse.' Or at a football ground - Gala has been talking to soccer clubs, too.

Deregulation could also herald the age of the 'gaming shed', the 40,000 sq ft gaming emporiums on the edges of cities containing a punter's paradise of fixed-odds betting, electronic bingo, slot machines and low-stake casinos. 'We're looking at sites already,' says Kelly. 'We have to be fast on our feet. There are lots of entrepreneurs around.'

The time will come when Gala's backers, PPM Ventures and CSFB, will want to sell up, leading to a flotation, but Kelly is relaxed. 'It's simply evolution,' he says. 'They will ride off into the sunset to make other investments and we'll ride off to the City and become a public company. But nothing is imminent.'

Gala is concentrating on its interactive internet and TV operation to be launched through Telewest and possibly Sky. 'It's exciting,' says Kelly. 'You'll be able to watch Coronation Street on one half of the screen and play bingo on the other.'

Meanwhile, running Gala is getting in the way of his motorbike test. 'I've had to put it off twice already,' Kelly complains. But passing it is odds-on if he applies his Gala philosophy: 'Never do anything without believing it will be the best.'

By Sarah Bridge