As reported by: The Scotsman
ONCE it was No Mean City, but in the past decade Glasgow has transformed itself into Glas Vegas and is fast becoming the gambling capital of Britain.

It has become the punter's best bet for high-rolling excitement, whether it is poker, roulette or slot machines.

But experts are warning that the social impact of a gambling explosion is being ignored with the number of betting addicts in Britain forecast to double over the next ten years.

American casino owners are riding on Glasgow's burgeoning popularity among gamblers. Kerzner International, one of the world's most innovative casino developers and operators, yesterday announced its intention to invest in a £160 million complex at the SECC that will become Scotland's first destination resort casino.

Already the city has five casinos, a number set to double in the near future, making it second only to London, with 23.

Some have cautioned that the knock-on effects of casinos have been disregarded in the public's rush to lose the collective shirt off its back.

The number of heavily-addicted gamblers in the UK is expected to soar from 300,000 to at least 600,000 - leading to a steep rise in gambling-related crime, suicides and family breakdowns.

In Glasgow alone, experts estimate that more than 70,000 addicts could be created.

"That is a conservative estimate - it could be a lot higher," Prof Mark Griffiths, Europe's only professor of gambling studies, said yesterday.

"In other countries that have deregulated gambling, like Australia, New Zealand and Canada, addiction has doubled - but in some ways Britain is more strictly regulated than those countries were."

He described the Gambling Bill - which will allow bigger casinos, more fruit machines, and live entertainment and food to lure in punters - as "a free for-all". And he criticised the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell for failing to tackle the issue of Britain's estimated 600,000 teenage fruit machine addicts.

American companies are leading the gold rush as Britain moves from having one of the most regulated gambling industries in the world to one of the least regulated.

Big cities are queuing up to cash in on what they see as opportunities to revitalise run-down areas. MGM Mirage, the world's largest gaming group, recently announced plans for casinos in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Salford worth £650m, while Blackpool is in negotiations for five super casino complexes. Others are planned in Newcastle, Sheffield and London's Olympia.

It is estimated that in five to ten years the number of casinos in Britain will be at least double the present figure of 120 - and they will be much bigger and more accessible.

"At the moment casinos are seen as fairly middle class clubs with only about 3 per cent of the population aware of them - the vast majority don't go to casinos at all," Prof Griffiths told the conference of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Exeter.

"A lot of towns now want big Las Vegas-style entertainment complexes, with restaurants and live entertainment, at locations where a lot of people go like football grounds.

"Instead of having to sign up in advance you will just be able to walk straight into a casino - all these changes are bound to bring more people in."

The new casinos will have roulette wheels, blackjack and poker tables - but their main earner is expected to be fruit machines.

The government, which stands to make hundreds of millions of pounds from taxes on proceeds, has defended the Gambling Bill, expected to become law in November or December, on the grounds that it will create jobs.

But Prof Griffiths said ministers had failed to put in place adequate safeguards.

"For the vast majority there will be no problem but this is going to increase those who become regular gamblers and if you have more regular gamblers you're going to get more problem gamblers."

Prof Griffiths said he was particularly concerned that there was to be no ban on under-18s playing slot machines.

"The Gambling Bill should have been an opportunity to protect children from gambling. I have had a lot of experience of dealing with adolescent gamblers. A lot of them mature out of it but they could well be addictive gamblers for three years - this affects their education and they often get criminal records."

A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "We are massively reducing the opportunities to gamble.

"We're removing fruit machines from 6,000 taxi ranks and small premises, we're reducing the levels of prizes and we're saying children will be able to play in a very few, specific circumstances at licensed seaside arcades."