SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Rank Group Non-Executive director and former Northern Ireland minister Sir Richard Needham has shown his support for the construction of a casino complex in Belfast.
Sir Needham has urged Northern Irish Ministers to take a gamble and allow for the construction of a Belfast casino complex. Currently casinos are viewed as illegal enterprises by Northern Irish law, however new legislation for gambling is scheduled for to be reviewed by the NI assembly in early 2015.
The former conservative minister believes that the opening of Northern Irelands’s first casino would generate up to 200 jobs by creating a +£18 million investment project. Sir Needham further stated that the proposed casino enterprise could deliver up to £3 million in tax revenues for Belfast City Council.
Sir Needham has actively campaigned for Rank Group to consider Northern Ireland as a possible location for its next casino project.
Nevertheless his campaign to allow a casino in Belfast, has met opposition from Nelson McCausland Northern Ireland’s Social Development Minister who has raised safety and problem gambling concerns with regards to a potential casino development.
Sir Needham insisted that Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council should not miss the opportunity to create jobs simply because the casino enterprise might not fit ‘the religious views of some people in Northern Ireland”
