New Gambling Minister Foxcroft Visits Grosvenor Casino Liverpool

^{A UK land-based casino gaming floor. Grosvenor Casino Liverpool alone employs more than 100 people. (Photo: Rodw / Wikimedia Commons)}

Gambling Minister Vicky Foxcroft visited Grosvenor Casino Liverpool on 29 September 2026, during the Labour Party Conference, in her first direct engagement with the betting and gaming sector since taking on the ministerial role.

The visit was hosted by Grosvenor Casinos and the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), including BGC chief executive Grainne Hurst. Foxcroft met casino employees and heard about their roles and career paths, and was shown the venue's safer-gambling measures, according to the BGC's own account of the visit.

Jobs and Tax Pressure on the Agenda

Grosvenor Casino Liverpool is operated by The Rank Group. David Williams, Rank's director of corporate affairs and investor relations, said the venue alone employs more than 100 people and that the company wants to 'protect those jobs, create new opportunities and ensure that land-based casinos have a sustainable future in towns and cities throughout the country.'

The BGC used the visit to underline the financial pressure it says the land-based casino sector is under. It says Britain's casinos directly employ more than 10,000 people and support a further 3,700 jobs, welcome around 14 million customer visits a year, paid £515 million in tax in 2025 and contribute an estimated £815 million to the economy. Since 2019, the BGC says, 22 casinos have closed with the loss of more than 3,000 jobs.

The council has previously raised concerns about further tax rises, including proposals to raise Machine Games Duty that Rank Group has separately warned could cost jobs. It cited EY modelling suggesting a rise in Machine Games Duty to 40%, as proposed by the Social Market Foundation, could cost up to 16,000 jobs, nearly 1,500 betting shops and as many as 34 casinos.

'Casinos support thousands of people in good jobs and play an important role in Britain's hospitality and night-time economy, while providing a safe and highly regulated environment for customers. But the sector is under real pressure.'

In the BGC's statement, Hurst said the trade body was 'delighted to welcome Vicky Foxcroft to Grosvenor Casino Liverpool for her first opportunity to engage directly with the sector since becoming Gambling Minister,' and that the BGC looks forward to 'working constructively with Vicky and the Government to support a thriving and sustainable regulated industry.'

First of Several Ministerial Visits

The visit follows a pattern of ministers touring land-based venues since Foxcroft's predecessor, Baroness Twycross, visited the same Grosvenor Casino Liverpool site last year to discuss jobs and safer gambling. The BGC represents more than 90% of Britain's regulated betting and gaming industry, and says its members support 109,000 jobs and generate more than £4 billion in tax.

The BGC said it wants to keep working with the new minister as she settles into the brief, though it has not yet set out further engagements or confirmed whether Foxcroft plans additional venue visits in the coming months.

Foxcroft was appointed Gambling Minister in a government reshuffle earlier this month, taking on responsibility for the sector's licensing framework, advertising rules and problem-gambling policy. The Liverpool visit was her first public engagement with any part of the regulated betting and gaming industry since taking up the role, and came in the middle of the same Labour Party Conference where gambling reform was also being debated on the conference fringe.