Who are the Main Casino Operators in the UK?

Compared to most of the gambling world, the UK is a bit of a strange beast when it comes to casinos. You go around the world and there are lots of different names of casinos, even if they are owned by the same company. Let’s take MGM Grand, for example. MGM Grand owns 10 casinos in Las Vegas, yet only one carries their name (the MGM Grand Las Vegas). Now, while it’s true most of them come from mergers of acquisitions, the fact remains that the general public won’t be too aware of who owns the casino. Could you tell the Luxor was owned by MGM Grand without any research?

However, in the UK, things are slightly different. There are three main casino operators in the UK and they like you to know that they own their casino! There are approximately 140 casinos in the UK. 100 of them are owned by the so-called “big 3”:

Gala Coral Group: 26 UK casinos.
Grosvenor: 35 UK casinos.
Genting Casinos: 45 UK casinos.

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Gala Coral group has its finger in many pies, so to speak. It is involved with all sorts of gambling, from sports betting, to bingo, to casinos. Their casino arm started when they bought Ladbrokes’ casinos from the Hilton Group (26 of them) and were launched as Gala Casinos in 2001. Gala has a strong presence throughout the country and their casinos are widespread throughout the UK. Out of the major three operators, they do have the biggest presence in Scotland, with 6 casinos (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and three in Glasgow).

Grosvenor are the second biggest casino group in the UK and they are a business owned by the Rank Group Plc. Grosvenor Casinos are big backers of the UK poker scene and they have the biggest card room network in Great Britain, which is quite impressive considering the losses poker rooms tend to be for casinos. Newer Grosvenor Casinos are being branded under the “G Casino” name, although they are still essentially the same as your traditional Grosvenor Casinos. Grosvenor also own the famous Vic in London where a lot of the big poker cash games are played in the city. They have also launched their own online casino, Bovada.

Genting Casinos are the biggest casino operator in the United Kingdom, with 45 casinos They own Maxims Casinos, Circus Casinos, Mint Casinos, as well as Crockfords, The Colony Club and the Palm Beach Casino, all in London. There is also one casino still operating under the old Stanley name, which is in Plymouth. Genting have tried to make their different brands distinctive: Circus Casinos are aimed at everyone, with 12 in total in the UK, they see Maxims as the higher end casinos for the flashers players, while they aim Mint Casinos at so-called “true gamers” and there are 20 sites across the UK for Mint Casinos. Genting started out in the casino industry in 1976, buying up casinos throughout the UK and revitalizing them. Genting bought Stanley Casinos, which had been owned by Stanley Leisure Plc and was – and still is – a big name in the British gambling community.

They also have an online casino, called of course – Bovada.

Now, there are obviously other casinos operators in the United Kingdom with more than one casino, but none of them can match the scale of the Gala, Grosvenor and Genting operations, which is why they account for around 75% of British casinos.