A safe bet? (From The Northern Echo)

A safe bet?

9:00am Friday 15th February 2008

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As a Wearside man sues his bookmaker for the money he lost, Steve Pratt goes to the casino and discovers there's a sporting chance of getting hooked on gambling

HIGH noon at the Grosvenor Casino in Newcastle. The cards have been dealt, the bets put down and I'm winning.

The place is deserted apart from management staff, and croupiers and dealers setting up their tables for the afternoon gamblers.

I'm being given a behind-the-scenes tour before the doors open at 2pm. Then the cards are shuffled, the arms on the slot machines are jerked down and the roulette wheel spins until the doors close again at 6am.

Even deserted, there's something strangely seductive about this gambling den. Even gambling alone with no money at stake, you can imagine how easy it might be for those with an addictive nature to get sucked into the game.

I'm not a betting man, mention the National and I think of a London theatre not a horse race, but even a brief insight in this world where deal or no deal doesn't mean a bearded ex-DJ and a mysterious banker on the end of a phone demonstrates the appeal of taking a risk, whether it's cards, the horses or the lottery.

The thought of getting something for nothing - or at least very little - can't help but make it attractive.

Knowing when to stop is the problem.

"Everyone has responsible gambling on the tip of their tongue," says assistant general manager Lee Naugher.

The Gambling Commission's raft of rules and regulations, covering everything from the training of croupiers to the stakes allowed in games ensures the customer gets a fair deal or sporting chance in casinos.

What no rule can stop is a gambling habit. One man thought he'd controlled his addiction by getting his bookmaker to refuse to take his bets. Now he's suing William Hill for more than £2m, money he lost gambling after asking the bookmakers not to let him bet again.

One of the best greyhound trainers in the country, Graham Calvert, from Wearside, lost his career, family life and business through his gambling habit. He placed a variety of bets, ranging from big ones, like the £347,000 on America to win the Ryder Cup, to a dozen or more bets a day of £30,000 each.

There came a point where he was offered "self exclusion", which would ban him from making bets with the bookmaker. In fact, he continued gambling with William Hill. By the time he stopped, he'd made a net loss of around £2m.

In the case, due to start in the High Court next week, he claims William Hill shouldn't have accepted his bets. The bookmakers argue that anyone placing a bet does so out of their own voluntary choice.

Grosvenor Casinos aren't involved in the case and I'm sure they'd point out that everything is done to protect their customers, from themselves as much as anything.

Gambling is gambling, whether it's at the bookmakers, the casino or even the bingo hall.

But much has been done to give gamblers a sporting chance. Casinos have been given a makeover and are nicer places to visit. Modern ones are open plan with bright lighting and attractive decoration.

"They were seen in the past as dark, dingy and dusty places. The buildings have been modernised to make them more accessible for people to come in without being scared," says George Petre, pit manager responsible for overseeing the tables at the Newcastle casino.

AT the other end of the scale, casinos were viewed as glamorous places full of men in dinner jackets and women in long gowns, the type of establishment you'd find in a James Bond movie. Indeed, the climax of the most recent 007 adventure unfolded in such a majestic place as Bond took on rival Le Chiffre at the card table in Casino Royale.

That image is just as misleading, Naugher says.

"Bow ties and evening dress, that's not helpful for us." These days, you're just as welcome to pop into the casino for a coffee and a chat as to gamble. Taxi drivers and restaurant staff are regulars in the early hours of the morning once their business is finished for the night. "They tend to gamble just for a cup of tea," says Petre.

Gaming laws have been relaxed in recent years, although casinos are still tightly run compared to bookmakers and amusement arcades, says Naugher.

He feels it would be a good thing if all gambling establishments were free to compete on an even playing field.

Casinos can vary their games now, something that needed a law change in the past. This has seen a growth in various forms of poker, now a massive part of the programme, with dedicated card rooms and poker rooms.

It's a spin-off from the rise in popularity of poker coverage on TV, which really took off with the introduction of glass-topped tables enabling viewers to see the hands players are holding. "Before it was a lot of blokes sitting with cards. Now people watching can see the cards. It's a simple game and you can pit your wits against someone else," says Petre.

The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour visited casinos around the country. Two Way Poker, Three Card Poker and Texas Hold 'Em are among the games played now and casinos make it easy to learn.

"We've become more leisure orientated. Casinos are much more friendly. They try to make themselves accessible so people know how to play. There are hosts to bring them to the table and teach them the game - and it doesn't cost them anything," says Petre.

As a business, the casino is there to make money, but not every visitor is a hardened gambler. Hen and stag nights celebrate there. You can dine in the restaurant, which serves breakfast until two in the morning for night owls.

The majority of customers are regulars. Naugher reckons they recognise 80 per cent of them. "To these people, it's not winning that counts. It's like a day at the races. You go with a little amount of money you want to spend and if you win, you win, but you have a good night out whatever happens,"

he says.

Customers don't gamble with real money at the table but with chips. Handling chips is a job for a professional. It takes time and practice to become nimble fingered with them.

Forget, too, scenes in films where gamblers, having exhausted their cash reserves, take off their watch and put it in the pot, followed by other valuables.

That's not allowed in casinos where it's chips with everything.

The Government seems to have abandoned plans for one supercasino and intends to push ahead with a dozen or so smaller ones. What no one can legislate for is a gambler's addictive personality, the belief that just one more bet and they'll win a fortune.

You don't even have to be at the roulette table to win, you can sit at a personal machine with a screen relaying that the action on the wheel.

Working the wheel - throwing the ball and making it spin, incidentally, takes time to master. It's all a matter of timing. I know, I tried and failed.

If you don't want to play cards, slot machines offer prizes of up to £4,000. "You can walk in with a fiver and walk out with £50,000. It's unlikely, but you could," says Naugher.

What no one can deny is the adrenalin rush, the excitement as you place a bet and wait for the roulette wheel to come to a rest or the next card to be turned up. "It's all plastic money, but when someone is playing a large amount, it's difficult not to get excited," admits Petre.

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