Grosvenor Casinos

Last updated

Grosvenor Casinos
Industry Gambling
Founded1970
Headquarters
Maidenhead, UK
Number of locations
53
Number of employees
6,349
Parent The Rank Group
Website grosvenorcasinos.com

Established in 1970, [1] Grosvenor Casinos (formerly County Clubs and Grosvenor Clubs) is a UK-based chain of 53 casinos located in major towns and cities across the UK, with two unbranded sister casinos located in Belgium. Grosvenor Casinos is owned by The Rank Group who operate exclusively in the casino, bingo and online gaming industries across Belgium, Spain and the UK.

Contents

As of June 2014, revenue was reported at £391.2m, with an operating profit of £56.8m - coming from a total of over 1.7 million customers per year. [2] Of these 1.7 million customers, over 8.5 million customer visits occur every year. The Grosvenor casino network currently employs over 6,300 employees across the UK. Their online casino hosts over 250 games with themes spanning from traditional roulette, blackjack and poker - to the more modern slot styles and live gaming. Grosvenor are licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission. [3]

Originally ‘County Clubs’, the casinos came to be known as ‘Grosvenor Clubs’ and in 1969 on 2 January, Grosvenor Clubs officially changed name to ‘Grosvenor Casinos’.

Grosvenor Casinos is currently the shirt sponsor for Fulham F.C. Grosvenor signed a deal to become the London club's main team partner in July 2017.

History

Acquisition of the Ricoh Arena casino

In April 2009, Grosvenor purchased the casino inside the Ricoh Arena complex in Coventry for £650,000. [4]

Leaving the British Casino Association

During 2009, Grosvenor Casinos announced they were leaving the now defunct British Casino Association (BCA). The BCA existed to promote casino best practice and influence UK government legislation surrounding gambling. Reportedly the BCA began to fail in promoting and improving the casino industry, and once annual membership fees were raised to £140,000, it saw the departure of Grosvenor, just as the large Gala Coral Group had withdrawn in October 2008. [5]

Loyalty card scheme

In May 2012, the first roll out of a new plastic card service in Grosvenor Casinos was implemented with ‘Grosvenor Play Points’ entering 35 casinos across the UK. This came as a result of the Grosvenor Casinos and Play Points brands merging to create one loyalty card. [6]

Gala takeover

Grosvenor Casinos completed their takeover of 19 casinos from the Gala Coral Group across the UK on 12 May 2013 [7] making them the largest casino network in the UK. A similar deal to acquire 23 casinos from Gala had previously stalled in 2012 due to a decision by the Competition Commission and OFT. [8] The revised deal in 2013 saw 4 casinos removed from the agreement.

Redtooth partnership

On 28 April 2014, Grosvenor Casinos announced a two-year partnership with the world's largest live pub poker tournament group Redtooth Poker. Grosvenor Casinos hosted the regional and national UK finals and online events. The move integrated Redtooth Poker and Grosvenor's own poker tournament, the Grosvenor UK Poker Tournament (GUKPT). [9]

Live events

On 25 March 2011, Grosvenor Casinos announced they were to host new poker event called the Goliath. Designed to attract up to 1,500 players, the Goliath had an initial buy-in at £100 + £20 and offered a guaranteed prize pool of £100,000, with 25% of the registration fee going to the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity. [10] The most recent Goliath event in 2014 became the largest poker tournament ever held outside of the US with a total of 3,394 players entering. [11] For the 2015 event Grosvenor estimate over 4,000 participants will enter. [12]

Grosvenor employees also played the highest poker tournament on record at the top of Mount Snowdon in September 2011. The 3,500 ft. stunt was attempted to raise money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity, with a total of £11,000 being collected. [13]

Controversy

In December 2006 staff walked out of four Grosvenor Casinos in London in a dispute over pay increases. [14] A month later, around 300 workers went on strike over the same ongoing dispute. [15]

In September 2014 Northern Ireland's Social Development Minister, Nelson McCausland, dismissed the idea that a Grosvenor Casino could open due to the ongoing ban on casinos. [16]

Technology

In November 2011, Grosvenor installed software that would spot cheating at roulette tables. Developed by Ipsotek, the software detects a cheat called "top-hatting", as well as detecting cheating after "last bets" has been called. The software is linked to CCTV cameras monitoring the table at all times. [17]

In October 2012, Grosvenor introduced a new product to the casino industry, Pinball Roulette machines. The new machine offers single player roulette game and the ball is launched by a pinball-style trigger into the wheel. The main feature of the product is that it offered the player control over when they wished to spin the ball. Thirty of the machines, developed by Austrian Gaming Industries, were installed at 22 clubs across the UK. [18]

During November 2013, Evolution Gaming joined Grosvenor Casinos to create a ‘Live Casino’ targeting players on their online casino. [19] The games include blackjack, roulette and baccarat and are available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. The live game system is designed to produce an environment more closely matching a real casino experience.

In July 2013, Grosvenor Casinos in London, Reading and Coventry created the world's first multi-site cloud casino experience called the IGT Cloud. The new technology offers analytical reporting tools which offer insight into product performance on a game-by-game basis. Operators can remotely change the games on the floor to provide a more customized gambling experience. [20]

Grosvenor Casinos partnered with Tensator in 2014 to create virtual casino hosts. The Tensator Virtual Assistant Ultra stands 50 cm x 50 cm and replicates a live game in real time. The assistant also offers a range of information for players and other frequently asked questions. [21]

In February 2014, The Rank Group and Grosvenor Casinos joined with Jumio to use their Netverify solution. This was integrated into the casino's online database and is designed to provide customers with a more efficient identification procedure. Customers are required to scan their passport or driving licence via their device camera, and Netverify then authenticates it using a range of security features. [22]

In November 2016 Grosvenor Casinos has confirmed the launch of new sports betting offering for its online and land-based players. [23]

In 2022 the Grosvenor Casino brand was complemented by two new niche online brands, The Rialto [24] and The Vic. [25] These new online casino products represent the most popular real world venues in London and extend the Grosvenor Casino's digital footprint.

Awards

International Gaming Awards

Grosvenor and Rank were awarded the 'Casino Operator of the Year' award at the 2013 International Gaming Awards. [26] Rank Group were awarded the 'Socially Responsible Operator of the Year Land Based' award in 2014 and 2015. [27] [28]

Women in Gaming Awards

Grosvenor Casinos’ HR team were awarded Team of the Year at the Women in Gaming independent annual awards in June 2012. The team, led by Fiona Regan Head of HR, were awarded for their successful Hearts and Minds initiative, which focused on internal and employee recognition. [29]

In 2014 they won the same award whilst also picking up the Inspiration of the Year award. [30]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casino game</span> Types of casino games

Games available in most casinos are commonly called casino games. In a casino game, the players gamble cash or casino chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes. Casino games are also available in online casinos, where permitted by law. Casino games can also be played outside of casinos for entertainment purposes, like in parties or in school competitions, on machines that simulate gambling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slot machine</span> Casino gambling machine

A slot machine, fruit machine, poker machine or pokies is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Game of chance</span> Game whose outcome is determined by random events

A game of chance is in contrast with a game of skill. It is a game whose outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device. Common devices used include dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels, numbered balls, or in the case of digital games random number generators. A game of chance may be played as gambling if players wager money or anything of monetary value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gambling in Macau</span>

Gambling in Macau has been legal since the 1850s when the Portuguese government legalised the activity in the autonomous colony. Since then, Macau has become known worldwide as the "Gambling capital of the world". It is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online poker</span> Virtual card game

Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 to $2.4 billion in 2005, while a survey carried out by DrKW and Global Betting and Gaming Consultants asserted online poker revenues in 2004 were at $1.4 billion. In a testimony before the United States Senate regarding Internet Gaming, Grant Eve, a Certified Public Accountant representing the US Accounting Firm Joseph Eve, Certified Public Accountants, estimated that one in every four dollars gambled is gambled online.

Online casinos, also known as virtual casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of traditional casinos. Online casinos enable gamblers to play and wager on casino games through the Internet. It is a prolific form of online gambling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russ Hamilton (poker player)</span> American poker player

Russ Hamilton is an American poker player. He was the 1994 World Series of Poker main event champion, defeating Hugh Vincent in heads-up play to win $1 million in first-prize money as well as his body weight in silver. Following his World Series win, Hamilton served as a consultant for Ultimate Bet, an online poker server. In 2008, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission found Hamilton largely responsible for cheating players on Ultimate Bet out of $6.1 million through software that allowed access to opponents' hole cards. In 2009, Kahnawake increased the $6.1 million estimate to $22,100,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Rank Group</span> Gambling company

The Rank Group plc is a gambling company based in the United Kingdom. Rank was involved in the cinema and motion picture industry until 2006, and continues to use the Gongman logo originally used by the Rank Organisation's film distribution subsidiary General Film Distributors. Its brands now include Mecca Bingo, and Grosvenor Casinos, the UK's largest casino operator.

Cheating in casinos refers to actions by the player or the house which are prohibited by regional gambling control authorities. This may involve using suspect apparatus, interfering with apparatus, chip fraud or misrepresenting games. The formally prescribed sanctions for cheating depend on the circumstances and gravity of the cheating and the jurisdiction in which the casino operates. In Nevada, for a player to cheat in a casino is a felony under Nevada law. In most other jurisdictions, specific statutes do not exist, and alleged instances of cheating are resolved by the gambling authority who may have more or less authority to enforce its verdict.

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bwin Austrian online betting brand

bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, formerly known as Betandwin, is an Austrian online betting brand acquired by Entain PLC. The group operated under international and regional licences in countries like Gibraltar, the Amerindian reserve of Kahnawake (Canada), and Belize; and Germany, Italy, Mexico, Croatia, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom in Europe. Bwin offered sports betting, poker, casino games, and soft and skill games, with most revenue coming from poker and sports betting. Bwin had over 20 million registered customers in more than 25 core markets. Competence centres were located in Vienna, Stockholm, and Gibraltar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mecca Bingo</span> British business enterprise operating bingo halls

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