Big Casinos, Small Casinos: Two Bets on Britain's Casino Market

Rank Group is preparing to test a smaller casino built around gaming machines and electronic terminals, with less emphasis on the traditional live gaming floor.

The owner of Grosvenor Casinos plans trials during its 2026/27 financial year, using unused casino licences in locations where the format can secure the necessary permissions. Rank's annual report 1 describes an attempt to develop a repeatable, capital-efficient casino model.

Genting is investing on a different scale. It acquired the former Aspers casino at Westfield Stratford City for £27.8 million in April 2025 2 and is pursuing a major casino and entertainment development at the Trocadero near Piccadilly Circus.

Both operators have also closed established casinos. Genting shut Coventry in October, while Grosvenor closed Reading Central, Swansea and Sunderland. The investment programmes are therefore taking shape alongside decisions to withdraw from properties that no longer meet their commercial requirements.

Grosvenor's smaller experiment

Rank intends to use spare casino licences for venues led by gaming machines and electronic gaming terminals. Its 2026 annual report says the locations must be within permitted areas and remain subject to local authority planning approval.

The approach follows changes to casino gaming-machine entitlements in England and Wales. Rank installed approximately 850 additional machines across the Grosvenor estate during 2025/26. Revenue from machines increased 11%, while live table revenue was broadly unchanged.

That performance helps explain the proposed format, but the economics are not straightforward.

Live tables need dealers and supervisors when games are operating. Machines and electronic terminals can serve customers with fewer dealing staff. A compact property may also reduce rent, fit-out and maintenance costs.

It cannot dispense with casino supervision, surveillance, security, cash controls, management or safer gambling responsibilities. Nor does a smaller footprint guarantee adequate customer demand. Machine utilisation and revenue per gaming position will determine whether the savings are sufficient.

The trials will also face a cost that adding machines to an existing casino does not: establishing and operating an entirely separate property.

Rank has not disclosed the expected capital expenditure, staffing structure or revenue targets for the smaller venues. The profitability of the format remains unproven.

Genting's destination investment

Genting's Stratford acquisition secured an established casino in a busy shopping and leisure complex. Its Trocadero development is a more substantial undertaking, combining gaming with food, drink and entertainment in the West End.

In 2025, Genting Malaysia told shareholders 3 that expansion in larger cities and acquisitions were part of its UK strategy.

The Trocadero licensing documents 4 described an investment of about £40 million and the relocation of the former Crockfords casino premises licence. A more recent statement by Genting's UK leadership 5 puts the proposed investment at £50 million. The higher figure is the latest publicly stated estimate, not a completed project cost.

Large destination properties can draw customers already visiting an area for shopping, hospitality or entertainment. They also require sufficient revenue to support more expensive premises, larger staffing commitments and a broader range of facilities.

Genting's decision to close Coventry shows that substantial investment in selected locations does not imply continued investment in every existing casino. Neither Stratford's acquisition price nor the Trocadero budget, on its own, establishes the expected return.

Rank is investing in large casinos too

The two strategies are not mutually exclusive. Rank has also spent heavily on conventional casinos.

Its 2025 annual report 6 records a refurbishment of approximately £15 million at the Victoria Casino in London and £4 million at Grosvenor Leicester. The Leicester project was followed by a reported 19% increase in net gaming revenue and a 10% increase in visits against the equivalent period a year earlier.

Rank has also made smaller improvements at other regional casinos. Its subsequent results say focused investment generally delivers stronger returns than major refurbishments, although it continues to undertake larger projects where justified.

The smaller-format trial adds a further option. It does not replace Rank's investment in flagship and established regional venues.

What Grosvenor's revenue says

Grosvenor reported £397.3 million of net gaming revenue in 2025/26, an increase of 5%. Rank's final results 7 break that revenue down by product.

Machines and electronic gaming together generated £175.7 million, marginally more than live tables. They accounted for about 44% of Grosvenor's total net gaming revenue.

That is a significant contribution, but revenue is not profit. Live tables have greater direct labour requirements. Machines require purchase or leasing expenditure, servicing and floor space. Rank does not publish profit by gaming product, so the results cannot establish which is more profitable.

Grosvenor's underlying like-for-like operating profit increased 11% to £35.5 million. Its total operating profit, which includes separately disclosed items, fell to £23.5 million. Neither figure can be allocated reliably to machines or live tables from the published disclosures.

What the trials will establish

Genting's latest London investments favour large properties with established or anticipated visitor demand. Rank is testing whether a narrower gaming offer can justify opening additional, smaller casinos while continuing to refurbish larger venues.

The companies have not published comparable property-level investment forecasts. Genting's Stratford acquisition is an operating business, its Trocadero development is still a project, and Rank's compact format has yet to be tested.

The financial test for Rank is whether revenue from machines and electronic gaming can cover the full costs of a new casino, including the overheads that remain even without a substantial live gaming floor. Its 2026/27 trials will provide the first evidence of whether that format warrants a wider rollout.