Swansea ban on new casinos opening set to be extended

A ban on new casinos opening in Swansea is set to be extended for three years.

The city's council imposed the rule in 2014, which followed on from barring sex entertainment venues 12 months earlier.

Tackling poverty is a priority for the council and it sees gambling as having the potential to increase problems for "disadvantaged social groups".

It also wants to protect children and vulnerable people from being "exploited" by gambling.

There are four casino licences in force in Swansea, but only one place; Grosvenor on High Street is currently operating as a casino.

Closure

Its biggest casino, Aspers, shut in 2012 because the five-year-old £13m venue on Wind Street was not commercially viable.

And in 2005, Swansea was one of eight UK cities to be granted a small casino licence under legislation which would have allowed larger venues, but nothing materialised.

"Previous research has shown that disadvantaged social groups who experience poverty, unemployment, dependence on welfare, and low levels of education and household income are most likely to suffer the adverse consequences of increased gambling," a report to the full council on Thursday said.

"Problem gambling can lead to debt, divorce, crime, depression and also suicide, all of which can have a negative impact on communities, particularly those already experiencing the stresses of life on a low income."

If passed, the ban will be reviewed again in 2020.

As well as clamping down on casinos and sex entertainment venues, tough new rules were also previously imposed on the number of premises selling alcohol in the city centre but that was eased earlier this year.