BOB WIPER, Stanley Leisure’s chief executive, claimed yesterday that the company would be among the main beneficiaries of government proposals to revamp the country’s gambling laws.

Despite widespread scepticism, he said he was expecting a “favourable outcome” to today’s scheduled report from the Joint Scrutiny Committee (JSC), a cross-party body set up to consider the proposals. Although he did not know it at the time, it looks like he was right. The Times understands that the JSC will suggest to the Government that the proposals outlined last month unfairly penalise existing operators.

In particular, it is expected to argue that restricting new Las Vegas-style unlimited prize slot machines to a new breed of giant “regional” casinos is unfair, and that smaller casinos operated by the likes of Stanley should be allowed to operate some of these so-called Category A machines.

It will also recommend that Category B machines should be able to offer substantially higher prizes than the £500 currently envisaged.

The JSC is also tipped to recommend that the entry barriers for developing big regional casinos should be raised by lifting the minimum amount of gaming space from 5,000sq m to 7,500sq m. This would limit the number of such resort casinos.

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