At 6am on Monday morning, the Rainbow Casino at retail superstore and leisure development Teesside Park in North Yorkshire,?England will close its doors resulting in the loss of approximately 30 jobs.
The Gazette Live reports that due to “local economic reasons,” the casino, which is situated at the retail development in Thornaby-on-Tees and once home to the old Stockton Racecourse, will close on September 26. The closing date was confirmed by a spokesperson for the Birmingham-based operator Double Diamond Casino, who said, “Double Diamond Gaming Ltd can confirm that it will be closing its casino in Stockton-on-Tees.”
According to the report, during a consultation period over the past few weeks, several of the approximately 50 people believed to have been employed by the casino have already quit. Some of the staff from the casino have reportedly been interviewed by rival casino Stockton’s Grosvenor with the intent of re-employing them. While the staff at the casino has been notified of the closure, the casino’s website has yet to update its impending status.
The company’s spokesperson said, “The company would like to thank all our customers for their support over recent years and would also like to pay tribute to the staff who have continued to work hard during the consultation period and have helped to keep the business running at this difficult time,” and, “This has been a very hard decision for the company to make and not one it has made lightly, however, due to economic reasons locally the company has decided that it has no option but to take this decision,” according to the news agency. The spokesperson added that going forward, operations at the company’s four other casino locations throughout the country will continue to operate and make investments in its portfolio.
Formerly the Gala Casino, the Rainbow opened in the late 1990’s and is one of five located around the United Kingdom, with the other branches located in Cardiff, Aberdeen, Birmingham, and Bristol. Double Diamond invested ￡3m into the refurbishment of its Rainbow Casino in Cardiff. The changes, which essentially double the size of the venue, are expected to be completed by the fall with the casino relaunching by October.