The UK’s Aspers Group plans to move ahead with construction of a US3 million waterfront casino in the English city of Southampton after beating back a High Court challenge from rival Global Gaming Ventures (Development).
Aspers, a joint venture between England’s famed Aspinall casino family and James Packer’s Crown Resorts, is mapping a venue encompassing the country’s legal maximum of 150 machine games and around 30 live tables as part of a proposed redevelopment of Southampton’s Royal Pier Waterfront with hotels, shopping and office parks.
Aspers operates casinos in London, Milton Keynes, Newcastle and Northampton and was awarded the Southampton license last March. But construction was halted when Global Gaming Ventures sued after a casino it planned to build in a shopping development in the city’s Watermark West Quay neighborhood was rejected in favor of the Aspers project.
London-based GGV recently opened a 50,000-square-foot casino called Victoria Gate in Leeds and plans to expand with a casino in Bath next year.
In its suit the company argued that work at Watermark West Quay was already under way before the Royal Pier Waterfront won final planning approval. However, High Court Judge Sir Jeremy Baker ruled that the claim had “no merit” since Southampton City Council had stated from the beginning of the tender process that the Royal Pier Waterfront development was the best place for the new casino
In a prepared statement following the ruling, Aspers Chief Operating Officer Richard Noble said, “We are very proud to have delivered two operational large license casinos in the United Kingdom and are very excited to now have the opportunity to bring a high quality Aspers casino to Southampton.”
