Well, they may be mid table in The Championship, but Leeds United has big plans to get back up into the Premier League where many people think they belong (Cantona did used to play for them after all). Not only have they confirmed plans to sign Pompey defender Pearce, but they have also announced plans to bid to run a “super casino” at Elland Road. Maybe they’ll stock the Football Champions Slot from Net Ent?
The club is one of 5 bidders lobbying Leeds City Council for the go ahead to run a casino in a redeveloped West Stand.
The new stand would be about 7 stories high, with a 21st Century casino on two floors, with around 3,500 square metres of gambling space. The stand would also have 3 tiers of football stadium seating.
United CEO Shaun Harvey says the bid would make Elland Road capable of staging world-class events. Maybe even some world class footie games, eh Shaun?
Leeds is one of 8 towns and cities with permission to license the big new casinos, three times the size of the previous UK norm, with up to 150 slot machines offering jackpots of up to £4,000. Aspers in Stratford has been blazing a trail in this respect and has been a great success- and other towns want a piece of the action.
But it is by no means a done deal that the casino will be built at the Leeds football stadium, as other bidders are in the fray. But who knows?
Grosvenor Casinos has earmarked a site between Eastgate and the West Yorkshire Playhouse, and the former Majestyk nightclub near Leeds Station is also a contender.
I suppose the one thing hindering the Leeds bid for a Leeds United Casino is the lack of transparency concerning who actually owns the club. Is it Ken Bates?
Alledgedly, Ken, a UK tax exile resident in Monaco , bought the club from anonymous investors, via a company registered in Nevis, the West Indies , another tax haven. Hmmmm. Likes a tan then.
