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Arena Leisure’s racino plans back on track
Racecourse operator Arena Leisure has revealed new plans to develop the UK’s first ‘racino’, which will combine either horse or dog racing with a casino.
Arena debuted its racino plans for Dunstall Park racecourse in Wolverhampton in April 2003 as part of a joint venture with bingo operator Gala Group.
However, after receiving full backing for the scheme from Wolverhampton City Council in January 2004, Arena suffered a setback after the government called in the scheme in May 2004 because the racecourse is situated on green belt land.
Wolverhampton City Council has since made the shortlist of 31 councils in the UK chosen by the Casino Advisory Panel for one of the eight large and eight small new casino licences.
Arena will now submit a redesigned planning application for the Wolverhampton racino concept to expand the current hotel offering and incorporate a casino.
The new plans were revealed alongside the Arena’s interim results for the six months ending 30 June 2006. The results showed a pre-tax profit increase of 8 per cent to £2.2m from £2m in 2005 while turnover was also up 5.7 per cent to £21.9m from £20.7m last year.
Raymond Mould, Arena’s chair, also announced that planning permission had been granted for the group’s hotel and leisure development at Lingfield Park Racecourse while the £32m redevelopment of Doncaster Racecourse is on schedule to reopen in August 2007. Details: www.arenaleisureplc.com
Photograph: An artist’s impression of the original racino in Wolverhampton
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