Casino boss sets out plans for winning venue

THE NEW club director of a major Yorkshire casino believes it can help its home city compete with its rivals as the venue gears up to prepare its bid to become a ‘supercasino’.

Tommy Gibbons, the newly installed club director at Alea Leeds, is keen to attract more visitors to the casino following its ‘soft’ opening late last year.

Mr Gibbons has introduced a number of new initiatives at the multi-milion pound London Clubs International casino, located at Clarence Dock, including events aimed at the region’s Chinese and Greek communities.

Comedy nights and other entertainment, including film nights at the venue’s private cinema, are also taking place as part of Mr Gibbons’ strategy to promote the casino to a wider audience.

And he is pushing the venue’s two restaurants – Indian restaurant The Bird and Fig.

“We’re not just a casino; we’re an entertainment complex,” said Mr Gibbons. “We have facilities for a business audience, including conference facilities.

“People come and they don’t always gamble. People’s perceptions of casinos in the UK traditionally is that they are mostly smoky and dark.

“But that has changed and we are a destination casino.”

Mr Gibbons has 31 years experience in the gaming industry and has risen through the ranks from dealer through marketing to general manager.

The Scot has moved to Yorkshire from 28 years working abroad, firstly at casinos in South Africa and most recently in Greece.

Mr Gibbons said LCI believes it would be the most sensible option to house the city’s large casino licence at Alea Leeds.

Leeds is one of eight UK cities that has been given the rights to build one of the Government’s large casinos, a status quantified by the number of slot machines and gaming tables allowed within the venue.

“This facility was built with the casino licence in mind,” said Mr Gibbons. “It would be a very attractive proposition for us and it would be very attractive for Clarence Dock.

“Leeds is a great city but it wants to get itself out there because it’s still lagging behind other major cities.”

Mr Gibbons said if Alea Leeds was overlooked for the licence, another operator would have to spend millions of pounds building an alternative venue at another site.

He also warned that there would be negative consequences for Clarence Dock, which boasts apartments and shops, if Alea Leeds was overlooked.

Mr Gibbons said he did not expect Alea Leeds to submit its application for a large casino licence before the start of next year.

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