Rank Group, the company behind the well-known Grosvenor casinos in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, is poised to increase its gaming machine offering following the government's indication that it will ease gambling regulations.
Shares in Rank Group surged by nearly eight per cent on Wednesday morning as investors reacted positively to the news, as reported by .
The firm has welcomed the government's review of the 2005 Gambling Act, which it believes will "enable land-based casino reforms."
With plans to introduce an additional 882 gaming machines to its Grosvenor estate, which currently hosts 1,367 machines, the total count could exceed 3,112 post-reform, according to the company.
This expansion, which Rank anticipates completing gradually over the next two to three years, represents a significant investment for the firm.
Rank also intends to liaise with Scottish officials to replicate the benefits of England's deregulatory reforms in Scotland.
Government turns to gambling in deregulation push
The move comes as part of a broader deregulation drive by the Labour government, aimed at spurring economic growth.
Introduced and enacted by Labour in 2005, the º£½ÇÊÓƵ's Gambling Act is now under revision, with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport publishing draft secondary legislation on Monday to alter the regulatory landscape for land-based casinos.
The government has stated that these draft regulations are "part of a package of interlinked statutory instruments which make changes to the regulatory framework for land-based casinos."
Significant regulatory revisions have led to the scrapping of the Payments System Regulator (PSR). Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to unveil her first Financial Services Growth Strategy on July 15 during a speech at Mansion House.
Reeves has been engaging with top figures from various sectors, including fintech, banking, and investment, to gather strategic input.
John O'Reilly, CEO of Rank Group, has hailed the gambling reforms as "very good news" for the company.
He commented: "The modernisations will enable us to improve the Grosvenor customer proposition, helping to grow jobs and generating investment in local communities."
O'Reilly added: "We have a detailed roadmap of investments which we will now accelerate as we begin to roll out these reforms over the coming months."
