US group bets on UK casinos

AMERICAN gaming giant Harrah's Entertainment plans to invest up to $1bn (£519m) in a joint venture with Gala Group that aims to snare three of the eight super-casinos to be built in Britain under relaxed gaming laws.

'We would like to think that we have a good chance of three,' Harrah's chief executive Gary Loveman said although he warned the fine print for the super-casinos has yet to be finalised.

'We don't have a tax rate yet. We don't have the specifics of the sizes of the casinos. We don't know where the eight will be,' Loveman said.

Las Vegas-based Harrah's is one of several international gambling companies to have zeroed in on Britain as gaming laws are overhauled.

It announced a plan with bingo and casinos group Gala in June to develop up to eight regional casinos of between 30,000 and 50,000 square feet. The 50-50 deal was subject to the final form of the new law.

'As the legislation has now evolved, it has come to be something very different than our original joint venture [with Gala] anticipated,' Loveman said: 'It may be that there's nothing left for it to do.'

Potential sites for super-casinos include Wembley, Birmingham's NEC, Blackpool and Glasgow.

? Harrah's is pressing on with plans for a casino in Rhode Island, a move that will pose a substantial challenge to Wembley Plc. Wembley operates the Lincoln Park gaming complex in the state, which accounts for most of its earnings.