All bets are off

Workers at three of the UK’s largest casinos have taken strike action over the busiest time of the year over their employers’ miserly “unsustainable” pay offer. 

Whilst workers resorted to picket lines over the freezing cold Christmas period, it was revealed that the bosses refused them a cost of living pay rise, and had been sunning themselves on an all expenses paid safari in South Africa earlier in the year.

Grosvenor Casinos runs the London based Rialto in Leicester Square, the Victoria on Edgware Road and the Gloucester, Gloucester Road, where around 140 Unite members walked out on Boxing Day(26th December) and Saturday (27th December). 

Another 48-hour strike is planned for New Years Eve and New Years Day after workers rejected a below-inflation 2.5 per cent pay offer.

The Unite members involved in the dispute are licensed gaming staff who work in roles such as running the poker rooms and roulette tables. These are extremely specialist jobs, which require rigorous training and a legal requirement to hold a licence to be able to work in the industry.

At one picket line nearly 30 members gathered outside the bright lights of the Victoria Casino on the Edgware Road holding placards highlighting their grievances and pointing out that “2.5% is a pay cut” and that Grosvenor gives “safaris for the bosses” but “pay cuts for the workers”

Before the strike Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Grosvenor Casinos is a very profitable company which can well afford to offer its staff more than a real terms pay cut masquerading as a miserly pay rise.

“Our members will have Unite’s total support throughout this industrial action.”

Grosvenor Casinos operates over 50 casinos across the UK and is owned by the Rank Group which, Unite highlighted, made £63.7m in the year to 30 June 2025.  During this period, Grosvenor revenues rose 14 per cent, with average weekly takings hitting £7.3m.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, senior management at the London casinos were taken on an all-expenses paid trip to South Africa by the company while it refused to budge on its 2.5 per cent pay rise for licenced gaming staff. This is below inflation and is in effect a real-terms pay cut.

Balloting for strike action took place in October, leaving management plenty of time to get back around the table. The fact they haven’t, despite good pay offers have been negotiated between Unite and Grosvenor Casinos in the past, has lead many to believe that the low pay offer has been a tactic by management to move towards derecognising the union. 

A member who preferred to remain anonymous said, “Grosvenor casinos are a company that would step over a tenner to pick up a penny, and while the company has posted profits of over £10 million they have chosen to antagonise London staff by offering a derisory 2.5%. This is a deliberate tactic by senior management. 

“Grosvenor casinos have not negotiated in good faith. Our proposal was carefully considered, and the notion that anything more than 2.5% is unsustainable, is complete fantasy given the enormous bonuses paid to executives and the luxury South African safari incentive trip for managers. The cost of which would have paid for a fair cost of living settlement several times over. 

“There’s plenty of money, just not for the hundreds of ordinary staff who provide the service which generates millions in profit.”

Unite regional officer Janet MacLeod visited all three evening picket lines and said that the strong turnout from members reflected the depth of feeling over the way they had been treated.

Janet said, “This strike is having a massive impact on takings, especially given the time of year. These skilled workers deserve much more and the strike is entirely the fault of Grosvenor Casinos prioritising greed. Unite has offered talks to resolve this dispute, but instead of coming to the table with a decent pay offer this Christmas, Grosvenor Casinos has shown its hand in choosing to play Scrooge.

“Grosvenor Casinos can stop further action, but it requires it to come back to negotiations with an offer acceptable to our members.”

Below are photos from striking workers outside The Victoria on Edgware Road, Unite members will return to the picket lines over the new year holiday period. 

By Keith Hatch

Photos by Mark Thomas