More space for slot machines, updated poker rooms, new designs for customer areas, and many other upgrades now fill the casino.

Key Points

• The Vic, which is Grosvenor Casinos’ main London site, now shows a finished £15m refurbishment.
• Gambling Insider had a special interview with Peter Turpin, who is Victoria Casino Venue Director (left in the picture), and Mark Harper, who is Managing Director at Grosvenor Casinos (right in the picture), talking about these changes.

Inside The Vic’s £15M Revamp: Slots, Poker, Power, and Luxury Upgrades

Grosvenor Casinos finished a £15m (about $20m) upgrade of its top London casino, The Victoria, often called The Vic. They made many changes, casino floors, all areas customers see, the restaurant, staff places, and more now look different. Updates changed the slot layout after the UK Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) shared new rules for UK land casinos, letting The Vic install 80 machines and improve its 24-hour poker rooms as well. Gambling Insider talked closely with Mark Harper from Grosvenor Casinos and Peter Turpin from The Victoria about every change.

When asked what a £15m upgrade is, Turpin explained: “The Victoria’s changes cover everything, step by step. Work was in phases, closing parts at a time, but we kept other areas open and never closed the full casino. We traded daily during refurbishment. You ask what £15m brings, you get all you see. We set up our own private substation, ready for the new power needs from slots and other land-based machines, as reforms are now active. All parts needed proper power. Before there was one passenger lift, now the casino has three lifts. More than £1m went toward HVAC and cooling systems. We made sure every feature, tool, and comfort our guests want is here and each item is brand new, state of the art for today’s player.”

Behind the Budget: How Major Projects Are Financially Managed

We wanted to know how such a big budget gets managed. Harper replied: “Budgeting on this level takes careful thought. We use our main internal property team, but for skills we lack inside the company, we hire experts from outside. Quantity surveyors play a key part, making sure every cost is listed.

“When the plans are ready, we get designers, reach the final design idea, and work directly with quantity surveyors to check every detail and each price involved. In a place like The Vic, big infrastructure works always bring risks of finding new issues, so we saw surprises along the way, and a backup fund, contingency, gets added for unexpected things. This project was a long one, full of detail; the bigger the upgrade, the greater the chance you find sudden problems, which makes that extra fund important for projects like this one.” To read the full conversation, look for this week’s new GI Friday issue.