Casino consultant dismisses Tipperary Venue

A PROMINENT casino consultant has questioned the sustainability of the proposed €460 million casino and leisure complex in rural Tipperary — saying he personally would not invest in such a project.

An Bord Pleanála approved much of the controversial project despite a recommendation for refusal by its own planning inspector, who conducted an oral hearing into the planned Tipperary Venue earlier this year.

Paul Sculpher, a British-based consultant for casino projects, said the Nevada-style complex proposed for Two-Mile-Borris would need a “massive audience” of tens of thousands a week in order to be viable.

“The first indication that it might be viable is that there are developers looking to put hundreds of millions of euro in there so they clearly see a market that can sustain something this size,” Mr Sculpher said.

“With 2,000 staff which they are talking about from opening onwards, it’s almost impossible to imagine that volume of customers travelling specifically to Tipperary to gamble when there are plenty of other gambling venues around Ireland and around Europe.”

Mr Sculpher said the only way the proposal could succeed is if it provided gaming at a low cost to the operator.

“Slot machine gaming is critical. It’s not absolutely clear how that is going to look within the law in terms of how many machines and the maximum jackpots they are going to allow. The only way it could be conceivably sustainable is if they can offer a lot of gaming at a relatively low cost to the operator — and that means slot machines.”

He said the Tipperary Venue would be one of Europe’s largest casinos, but it had no international airport within striking distance of the site.

“There are casinos on that scale abroad and they’ve all got a good reason why they’ve worked. For example, you’ve got resort areas like Las Vegas and Macau, which, when they were put together, there was no casino gaming within striking distance.

“The Crown in Melbourne, which is on an even bigger scale again, but there is no other casino gaming allowed in the whole state of Victoria. So it’s difficult to see an audience for whom this is going to be the most convenient casino.”

Businessman Ben Dunne described the investment as “laughable”, claiming it would never be built. He said the investors should instead put their money in small business ventures.

“It’s completely off-the-wall,” Mr Dunne said. “What got us into the state we are in today was off-the-wall ideas from financiers and the likes. If you’re into gambling, you will want to go to Monte Carlo and you will want to go to Las Vegas and all the gambling capitals of the world. But to think that a one-off situation is going to work down in Borris is off-the-wall.”

Currently, casinos are illegal in Ireland under the 1956 Gaming and Lottery Act. There are some 50 premises across the country offering casino-type games. However, they have avoided prosecution as they are operated as private members’ clubs.

Slot machines and poker machines are also outlawed in many local authority areas, including Dublin city.