Still Hope for O2 Arena Super London Casino

The £200,000,000 business plan to open a super casino and hotel at the O2 Arena might be revived, says Sol Kerzner.

As a result of a series of policy reversals by the UK government, original plans devised by the Anshutz Entertainment Group (AEG), a company run by Sol Kerzner, the international casino businessman, to build a super casino and hotel complex on what was then the site of the Millennium Dome were shelved.

After originally promising seventeen casino licences, the UK government caved in under pressure from the anti-gambling lobby and other political pressures to reduce this to a single licence that it gave to Manchester. As a result AEG pulled out of their Millennium Dome activities.

In a surprising announcement Sol Kerzner has announced that the super-casino might be built after all. He pointed out that they had already constructed the base of the building before closing down operations, and that from a physical perspective it would be easy to continue from where they had left off.

Kerzner anticipates that within the next two years UK government opinion could easily change; no doubt he thinks that this will be aided by a change of government. He says that there are many small casinos in London which do little to attract tourism and little to benefit the economy. On the other hand he believes super casinos and hotels such as the planned O2 scheme would benefit both. He pointed out that a similar £250,000,000 development, the Mazagan Hotel and Casino in Morocco, has created 2,000 jobs.

The Mazagan will open in about a year and is located near Casablanca. In the last year Kerzner has opened two similar developments: Atlantis, The Palm, in Dubai and the One-And-Only in Cape Town.

If anyone can make the O2 Super Casino happen, then it is likely to be Kerzner.

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