Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Supercasinos will cause a crime wave and an epidemic of problem gambling,
two reports have warned. A leaked police study on the Government's
controversial plans to introduce Las Vegasstyle casinos found they could
attract organised crime and encourage children to bet. And doctors will warn
this week that more Health Service money will be needed to treat the
increasing numbers of gambling addicts. Police chiefs have so far held back
from any criticism of the Gambling Act, which will come into force in
September. But the secret report, by a Metropolitan Police gambling expert,
found that the Millennium Dome's conversion into a casino could cause
"increased access to gambling for children and vulnerable groups". The Dome
in South-East London is tipped to win the race to become Britain's only
supercasino when the first generation of licences is announced this month.
Its American owner, Philip Anschutz of AEG - who famously gave John Prescott
a cowboy outfit - has already ploughed £700 million into turning the site
into an "entertainment complex". It was suggested last night that David
Beckham's staggering £128 million deal to play for the AEGowned LA Galaxy
football club will lead to him becoming an ambassador for the supercasino.
Football pundits have been trying for days to square the scale of his pay
with tiny American soccer audiences and likely merchandise sales for his new
club. But football has been one of the great drivers of the betting boom of
the last six years. The addition of the Beckham name to the Dome project - a
London football academy named after him is already operating next door -
could attract millions in revenue. A source close to Beckham said: "People
have been asking how a club like Galaxy with a 20,000-seater stadium can
make David £128 million. "It's because the club is only a fraction of the
deal David is signing up for. It's all about AEG. "What David does not yet
probably realise is that he will have to work very hard to earn every penny
of that £128 million by promoting all the rest of Anschutz's businesses."
That AEG has hired a footballer with such a huge fanbase among teenagers and
women will add to concerns about the effect of a Dome supercasino on
families.

A British Medical Association report to be published tomorrow will say that
more money will be needed for NHS treatment centres as gambling addiction
takes its toll on adults and begins to affect more teenagers.

It also points to the rise in popularity of gambling among women - adding
that as "entertainment complexes", supercasinos will be attractive to women
in a way that betting shops of the past were not.

In the Met report, Detective Inspector Darren Warner of the Gaming Unit
warned there will be "increased access to gambling for children and
vulnerable groups".

He added: "This is what will happen as it is in every developer's manifesto.

"The 'destination casinos' are offering other family-oriented activities.
Children will be taken to a gambling resort even if they are kept 50 yards
away in another type of play room."

The document, leaked to Channel Four's Dispatches programme, was written
last year for consultants advising the Dome's local council in Greenwich. In
it, Mr Warner added: "I would not be so naive as to say money laundering
will not occur at a regional casino."

He also said that staff would be likely to be recruited from Eastern Europe
and their backgrounds could not be checked.

His report warned that a Dome supercasino would have nightclubs and bars
close by, risking disorder.

"Is there antisocial behaviour around nightclubs?" it asked. "Well, yes,
both inside and out." Opposition MPs reacted with fury to the contents of
the leaked report.

Tory culture spokesman Hugo Swire said: "Inspector Warner raises concerns
about increases in crime, problem gambling and an increase in teenage
gambling, all issues that the Government's gambling reforms were supposed to
address."

He added: "It is astonishing that such a vital report should have been
suppressed.

"It is essential that this report is made available to the Casino Advisory
Panel and that the panel comments on its explosive content."

Under the Gambling Act, the Casino Advisory Panel quango will report by the
end of the month on where the supercasino licence should go, as well as
deciding on 16 licences for smaller casinos. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell
will then take the final decision.

The reports came as another study found businesses are losing more than £300
million a year because of employees gambling on the Internet when they
should be working.