Casino group banks on customer care

Could pubs consider funding alcohol rehabilitation centres, or cigarette manufacturers support lung cancer wards? Maybe, if the government agrees to a proposal put forward by one of the companies currently involved in the bidding process to run the UK's first super-casino.

Sun International, which operates a string of casinos in South Africa and hopes to run a super-casino in Sheffield or in Havering, east London, is suggesting that whoever wins the UK licence should fund a £1m treatment programme for addictive gamblers.

In the UK, the gambling industry already supports the Responsibility in Gambling Trust, which funds GamCare, a charity that operates a national helpline and counselling services for people with a gambling dependency.

Sun International's plan draws on South Africa's industry-funded national responsible gambling programme (NRGP). It includes residential treatment facilities, training for casino employees to recognise addictive tendencies, school awareness programmes, and research into problem gambling.