{"id":85896,"date":"2023-09-25T15:47:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T15:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?p=85896"},"modified":"2023-09-25T15:47:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T15:47:46","slug":"britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain&apos;s oldest casino in Mayfair may close for good"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Britain&#8217;s oldest casino set up in the heart of Mayfair in 1828 by a working-class fishmonger who went on to become one of Britain&#8217;s richest men may close for good as it fails to attract wealthy tourists<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Crockfords Casino employs around 100 people who are now facing redundancy<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The future of \u00a380m site will be decided as it starts 30-day consultation with staff<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Britain\u2019s oldest casino could be closing its doors for good as London fails to attract high-end tourists.<\/p>\n<p>Crockfords Casino &#8211; best known for its exclusive clientele of aristocracy and royalty &#8211; has kicked off a 30-day consultation process with its staff as it decides on the future of its \u00a380m site.<\/p>\n<p>The exclusive Mayfair spot &#8211; owned by gaming group Genting &#8211; employs around 100 people who are now facing potential redundancy.<\/p>\n<p>Business has slowed since the pandemic while the so-called \u2018tourist tax\u2019 is blamed for putting off wealthy visitors coming to the UK.<\/p>\n<p>The casino was established in 1828 by a working-class fishmonger &#8211; William Crockford &#8211; who later became one of the wealthiest self-made men in England.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/15\/75813621-12558299-image-a-28_1695652303342.jpg\" height=\"431\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Crockfords Casino &#8211; best known for its exclusive clientele of aristocracy and royalty &#8211; faces an uncertain future and could close for good after failing to attract wealthy tourists<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/15\/75813551-12558299-image-a-30_1695652313439.jpg\" height=\"645\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>It has kicked off a 30-day consultation process with its staff as it decides on the future of its \u00a380m site.\u00a0The exclusive Mayfair spot employs around 100 people<\/p>\n<p>It was originally a private members gaming club for society\u2019s most elite, which was located at the fashionable 50 St James Place in London.<\/p>\n<p>Crockfords monopolised on the craze for heavy gambling raging through the 1800s, giving England\u2019s upper crust a sophisticated environment to flutter.<\/p>\n<h3>READ MORE:\u00a0 Scrapping tourist tax &#8216;would boost the economy by \u00a310BILLION, support jobs and provide net gain to the Treasury&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p>As it grew in popularity, Crockfords Casino later moved to the heart of Mayfair &#8211; attracting high rollers from across the globe.<\/p>\n<p>Yet with high stakes, comes high drama. Crockfords made headlines in 2017 when it won a legal battle with poker player Phil Ivey who tried to recover \u00a37.7m of winnings from a game of Baccarat after the casino became suspicious that he could be cheating.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ivey denied any allegations of misconduct in the strongest terms and he recovered his initial \u00a31m stake.<\/p>\n<p>But the historic casino has fallen on tough times since the pandemic, which it largely blames on London\u2019s inability to bring in visitors &#8211; especially those willing to splash the cash.<\/p>\n<p>This can be partly blamed by the tourist tax, which scrapped VAT-free shopping for tourists in 2021 when the UK left the EU.<\/p>\n<p>The Mail launched its Scrap the Tourist Tax campaign in April to give the economy a much-needed shot in the arm.<\/p>\n<p>The country\u2019s biggest businesses have backed the campaign &#8211; with Harvey Nichols, Marks &amp; Spencer and British Airways among 350 brands to have signed an open letter to the Chancellor calling for a rethink.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/16\/75814949-12558299-image-a-66_1695654139310.jpg\" height=\"502\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Swedish tennis player Bjorn Borg plays backgammon at Crockfords Club in London&#8217;s West End in 1974<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/15\/75813623-12558299-image-a-33_1695652352949.jpg\" height=\"420\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The casino was established in 1828 by a working-class fishmonger &#8211; William Crockford &#8211; who later became one of the wealthiest self-made men in England<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/25\/15\/75813357-12558299-image-a-23_1695651890940.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Crockfords won a legal battle in 2017 with poker player Phil Ivey who tried to recover \u00a37.7m of winnings after the casino became suspicious that he could be cheating.\u00a0Ivey denied any allegations of misconduct and recovered his initial \u00a31m stake<\/p>\n<p>Last month the boss of rival Grosvenor Casinos owner Rank Group warned that Middle Eastern high rollers are choosing Paris and Milan over London, holding its venues in the capital back.<\/p>\n<h3>READ MORE:\u00a0US visitors shun London shops and spend their cash in other European cities because of the tourist tax, data finds<\/h3>\n<p>Casinos such as The Ritz and The Clermont have both been forced to shut up shop in recent years as London loses out to other gambling hubs across the globe.<\/p>\n<p>But Crockfords has also suffered from more industry-specific issues, which have included rules about who can gamble with credit at casinos.<\/p>\n<p>Although the government have promised modernisation plans as part of the gambling white paper, many have said this has not come fast enough for casinos.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Willcock, president of Genting Casinos UK, said: \u2018Crockfords in Mayfair has been affected by a combination of factors that have put London at a competitive disadvantage compared to other international markets.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We will explore all options during the consultation period and no decision will be made until the views of our staff have been heard.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We highly value our employees and we are committed to our duty of care to them. None of our other casinos are affected in any way by this process and we will not be commenting further whilst this consultation is under way.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>High-end casinos in the UK contributed around \u00a3150m a year in tax to the Treasury, as well as generating \u00a3188m for London\u2019s economy and at least \u00a3120m in additional tourism spend in the capital.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12558299\/britains-oldest-casino-mayfair-close.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Britain&#8217;s oldest casino set up in the heart of Mayfair in 1828 by a working-class fishmonger who went on to become one of Britain&#8217;s richest men may close for good as it fails to attract wealthy tourists Crockfords Casino employs around 100 people who are now facing redundancy The future of \u00a380m site will be decided as it starts 30-day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Britain&amp;apos;s oldest casino in Mayfair may close for good - Celebrity Tidings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Britain&amp;apos;s oldest casino in Mayfair may close for good - Celebrity Tidings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Britain&#8217;s oldest casino set up in the heart of Mayfair in 1828 by a working-class fishmonger who went on to become one of Britain&#8217;s richest men may close for good as it fails to attract wealthy tourists Crockfords Casino employs around 100 people who are now facing redundancy The future of \u00a380m site will be decided as it starts 30-day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Celebrity Tidings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-25T15:47:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Scheid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Britains-oldest-casino-in-Mayfair-may-close-for-good.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Donna Scheid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/\",\"name\":\"Britain&apos;s oldest casino in Mayfair may close for good - Celebrity Tidings\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-25T15:47:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-25T15:47:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"World News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/category\/world-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Britain&apos;s oldest casino in Mayfair may close for good\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/\",\"name\":\"Celebrity Tidings\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Donna Scheid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Donna Scheid\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Britain&apos;s oldest casino in Mayfair may close for good - Celebrity Tidings","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Britain&apos;s oldest casino in Mayfair may close for good - Celebrity Tidings","og_description":"Britain&#8217;s oldest casino set up in the heart of Mayfair in 1828 by a working-class fishmonger who went on to become one of Britain&#8217;s richest men may close for good as it fails to attract wealthy tourists Crockfords Casino employs around 100 people who are now facing redundancy The future of \u00a380m site will be decided as it starts 30-day","og_url":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/","og_site_name":"Celebrity Tidings","article_published_time":"2023-09-25T15:47:46+00:00","author":"Donna Scheid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Britains-oldest-casino-in-Mayfair-may-close-for-good.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Donna Scheid","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/","url":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/","name":"Britain&apos;s oldest casino in Mayfair may close for good - Celebrity Tidings","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-09-25T15:47:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-25T15:47:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/world-news\/britains-oldest-casino-in-mayfair-may-close-for-good\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"World News","item":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/category\/world-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Britain&apos;s oldest casino in Mayfair may close for good"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/","name":"Celebrity Tidings","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Donna Scheid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Donna Scheid"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85896"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebritytidings.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}