Casino 36 - Like Coming Home

In an era when it seems that giant multinational corporations have a stranglehold on ownership of the world's casinos, the UK's Casino 36 is proving that a small, locally owned casino can be successful by finding a niche all its own.

Located in the Manchester suburb of Stockport, Casino 36 was the brainchild of local entrepreneur Ian Firkin Flood through his company, Cheshire Sporting Club Ltd. Also the owner of nearby Bredbury Hall Hotel and Country Club, an opulent venue that has been in existence since 1812, Flood teamed up with well-known local casino figure George Forsyth to open Casino 36 on the site of a former 1930s showroom in November of 2003.

Flood spent more than $2 million renovating the site to turn it into a traditional casino, with opulent fixtures and fittings with wood panelling throughout.

"Ian has such an eye for detail, and he designed the look of the place, as he knew exactly what he wanted," Casino 36 General Manager Jane Dodd said.

Casino 36 is a four-storey structure with gaming on the bottom two floors, but there are plans afoot to expand upward later this year. The lower floor features a carved bar serving drinks and food, with seating for 30 people, alongside 14 electronic TouchBet roulette machines. The floor also has four American roulette machines with a maximum bet of $400 per number and one blackjack table alongside one brag/two-way Texas hold'em table.

Up a magnificent staircase are an additional four American roulette tables alongside two card tables and 12 TouchBet roulette machines. The second floor also features a large heated roof terrace where players may relax with a cigarette. In addition, Casino 36 recently took delivery of six $8,000 jackpot machines to double its total offering to 12.

Casino 36 stated that the key to its success is the way it treats its customers, whether they are winning or not.

"In order to compete with the larger operators, we make sure our customer care is second to none, and our overall success is probably down to this," said Dodd. "Every casino is offering the same types of products, so we are quite big on customer care. While we would be out of business if we weren't making money, our primary concern is to make people feel good while they are at Casino 36. If you look after your customers, they tend to come back. A lot of our customers have described Casino 36 as like coming home."

Casino 36 also features a good number of female customers, attracted by the customer service and the safe environment encouraged by an over-25 policy.

"Women are quite happy to come into Casino 36, and we see middle-aged and older ladies who come in on their own and feel quite safe and happy," said Dodd. "We found that, although there is nothing wrong with them, a lot of people were intimidated by the under-25s, and our policy has worked well. I think that one casino cannot be all things to all people, and you have to decide what your niche is. A lot of our customers have commented that they quite like our policy, and we have stayed with it. Under-25s can come into our casino, but they have to be accompanied by a member."

To become a member of Casino 36 requires only that a person be over the age of 25 and show identification, but interested parties are allowed one grace visit.

"A lot of people have never been into a casino and don't know what it is all about," Dodd pointed out.

Casino 36's planned expansion later this year is down to the popularity of poker, a game that it began exploring following the implementation of a smoking ban in all public places in England last year.

"When the smoking ban began, our business started to drop, which I would assume happened everywhere," surmised Dodd. "So, we started holding poker tournaments on our second floor in November, and these have been so successful that we are expanding onto the third floor to turn it into a combination poker room and function space."

Casino 36's inaugural competition was a $100 rebuy Texas hold'em event with a $20,000 prize pool that is now a permanent Monday night feature, with players treated to a buffet with their buy-in. There are plans to offer poker events on Fridays, as well, before the opening of its dedicated poker room, when poker will become a daily occurrence.

"We now have space for a total of 60 poker players, and the drop is often doubled on Monday nights," explained Dodd.

As if to corroborate its David-versus-Goliath status, Flood received permission in March to start work on a second casino, the Bloom Street Casino and Hotel in the centre of Manchester, following a five-day hearing at the Manchester City Magistrates Court that featured objections from some of the UK's larger operators.

"This was quite a big deal, as our license was granted despite objections from all of the big boys," said Dodd. "In addition, we received our license the day after the super-casino was turned down."

Cheshire Sporting Club made its application under the rules of the Gaming Act of 1968 and had to show that there was sufficient demand for an eighth casino in England's second-largest urban area. In addition, the application stated that the new casino would offer dice and Punta Banco in order to offer something new to the area.

The new casino will be inside a four-storey listed former Victorian warehouse, and is scheduled to open by the end of the year. It will feature two gaming floors, along with a poker, restaurant, and function area and a 10 suite boutique hotel at the top. Envisioned with a more contemporary look, the site is aimed at Manchester's affluent and professional city-centre population.

However, the prospect of having a second casino will not change the way the company treats its customers, as it is determined to offer players that personal touch not seen at other venues.

"We are not massive and our market is quite personal," Dodd observed. "We service a certain niche in the market and, as a private company, we can make decisions on the ground, and that is great for customer service. We don't have to phone through the chain of command and then wait three weeks for a decision; we can do things there and then."