Operator condemns disparity over AGCs and FECs in England

A leading UK operator of family entertainment centres (FECs) and adult gaming centres (AGCs) has questioned the decision that bookmakers’ shops and AGCs were not allowed to reopen for business at the same time.

Mark Schertle, COO at Praesepe, the Gauselmann-owned operating group with 165 AGCs, seven FECs and five bingo clubs, called the government’s decision to about-turn only 48 hours before the reopening of the sector “a disaster”.

AGCs in England were due to open on Monday of this week, but only on Friday of last week was a decision taken to renege on this promise, but at the same time leaving bookies’ shops to open. FECs had already been told that they would have to wait longer.

Schertle questioned why all three should not be allowed to reopen simultaneously. He told InterGame: “Over the previous two weeks we had been working towards this date tirelessly, taking many of our team out of furlough, retraining the entire work force, spending substantial amounts on equipment, personal protection equipment, and point of sales in the venues and the warehouse.

While some of this preparation can be seen as a one-off, we have spent valuable resources in terms of working time and cash that will be wasted; for example the re-floating of all machines only to roll this back again.”

He added: “We have amended our machine layouts across the board and removed number of them from venues to ensure that we are best placed to comply with social distancing requirements. It is beyond me to understand how this decision was made a mere 48 hours prior to the start-date; the entire industry had been working towards this for weeks.”

Schertle said that he failed to understand why all three types of premises were not treated the same. “Especially bookmakers’ shops and AGCs, considering the striking similarities between the two. As a matter of fact, we know that in terms of footfall, bookmakers’ shops can be a lot busier than AGCs.”

The U-turn came only for locations in England. Decisions on Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are made separately by their own governments.