Supercasinos will cause a crime wave and gambling epidemic

 Add your view

The Dome in South-East London is tipped to win the race to become Britain's only supercasino

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.

Read more ...

• Addicted: one woman's loss of £27,000 in two months

• Comment: A warning we can't ignore

• Doctors urge ban on gamblers under 18

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.

The Morse consultancy said that of 664 office workers surveyed, 30 per cent had placed a bet on-line during office hours or knew a colleague who had.

 

What's on today   What's on tomorrow

Receive our newsletter