The boss of one of Britain’s biggest casino groups said they were slowly clawing back the £1.5 million a week lost during lockdown – and said there are no plans for job losses.
Grosvenor managing director Jonathon Swaine said business was gradually picking up following months of locked premises.
As well as the lost revenues, the closure of Grosvenor’s 51 casinos in England, Scotland and Wales cost the 海角视频 Exchequer a further £1.5m a week in lost gaming taxes.
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Furloughing 4,600 staff, he said, had placed another £1.5 million weekly burden on the taxpayer.
Most of its casinos reopened a fortnight ago, after hold-ups caused by last-minute delays from the Government on easing restrictions.
Four in Scotland opened last Monday and two in Wales will open this Saturday.
Now Mr Swaine wants to reopen the Leicester branch, criticising the ongoing localised lockdown in the city after a peak in Covid-19 rates had tailed off.
He said it was time the 112 staff based in the Highcross Street casino got back to work.
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Another six Grosvenor Casinos in Greater Manchester and one in Huddersfield also remain closed because of local lockdowns in those areas.
Despite the millions in lost revenue and delayed reopenings, he said: “I think the Government has been in a very, very difficult position and, perhaps having had some false starts, were hyper-keen not to be too exposed when it came to lifting restrictions.
“I do sympathise with the Cabinet Office because this situation is unprecedented.
“But I think the case of Leicester is disingenuous – when a casino has to stay shut while massage parlours, nail bars and tattoo studios are open.
“The infection rate in the city is moving in the right direction so it’s illogical and frustrating that we have not been able to reopen.
“It’s been frustrating for us in Leicester and for our shareholders, but we have 112 colleagues in the city and they do not know what the future will be, particularly as we are nine weeks away from the end of furlough.
“They have bills to pay and many have families, and their future are uncertain.
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“We could be in a tough position when the furlough safety net ends because we would be losing a lot of money each week and would have to take decisions about the Leicester team.
“Like any business we can only last as long as our cash resources allow us.
“Thankfully we have a strong balance sheet and 70 per cent of our businesses are now open but each business has got to be able to stand on its own.
“We just want to get the Leicester casino open and get customers back in.
“Given the latest situation in the city, though, I’m optimistic we will have some good news.”
Grosvenor Casinos is part of the £730 million turnover Rank Group which also operates more than 70 Mecca bingo halls – pretty much all of which are now open.
Mr Swaine said customer numbers were steadily building as the public got used to going out post-lockdown and, he said, they had created “ultra-safe” environments, with ID tracking, one way systems, flexi-glass screens and tough cleaning regimes.
He felt what they had done went further than many leisure settings.
In the casinos, for instance, there are strict rules on the way chips are handled while cards are quarantined for 72 hours after use.
In a bid to encourage more returning customers he said around a dozen bingo halls and a dozen casinos would be extending discounts on food and soft drinks sales through September after the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme ends on Monday.
Mecca Bingo is also laying on special sessions for over-55s who might be more reluctant than most to leave their homes.
He said: “We have not made any redundancies.
“What we have said throughout is that we want to get our casinos open as soon as possible because we want to protect jobs.
“We have not gone down the path of making people redundant.”