Ok, newish casinos, but the only 2 in the UK that I needed to visit and get chips and cards from myself.

Having only arrived back from vacation in Las Vegas on Thursday, I agreed to drive my daughter and friend to and back from the Reading music festival on Friday and so what to do for 10 hours - casino road trip, obviously!

First was Genting's International in Birmingham (about 2 1/2 drive). Having moved from the previous Star City location (chips now obsolete) this is one of the newer casinos in the UK that have a more Las Vegas feel inside - much, much smaller of course, but more spacious and bigger than many other UK casinos. Also has a hotel which is the only UK with a linked hotel. The card is also specific to this location - other Genting Casinos use a generic card.

Also interesting here is that they have an outside gaming area which allows smokers to play at the tables. I'm not a smoker to quite happy with the no smoking rules that we now have in the UK, although I never had a problem with giving people the choice. It wasn't open in the afternoon, so I don't know how popular it will prove, but an interesting idea.

We then travelled down to Bath (another 2 1/2 hours) which has it's first ever casino (as far as I am aware). This was a more interesting trip. Firstly, if anyone knows Bath then it is a beautiful historic city and a wonderful place to visit. Local population is around 90,000 and there are around 5 million visitors each year. The problem is that there seemed to be about 50 parking spots in the city and so it took us a while to park as we arrived at 7.30pm on a Friday evening, but we eventually found somewhere to park and walked to the casino. Century Casino is a single casino and not a chain casino, so I was looking forward to some new chips. Next thing to note, as anyone who has visited casinos here may know, is that a few years ago you had to be a member of a casino to enter (and we used to have to join 24 hours before you could play) but the rules have been relaxed in the last few years and apart from some of the high-end casinos that charge a membership fee you can get in easily. And you also used to be able to take guests anyway if you were a member. So we were concerned when told that you had to be a member (although no fee) to come in, and only a driving license or passport were acceptable ID. My wife didn't have either with her (and again to note, there is rarely a need to carry photo ID in the UK although many do for convenience) and I was faced with that difficult discussion about would she mind if I went in to get chips while she waited outside vbg

Fortunately the receptionist (who told me that the rules changed overnight some weeks ago, and that previously they didn't ask for photo ID) called the manager and he agreed to let my wife in as long as she didn't try and change up more than £1,000 to play (no worries there then!).

Inside was pleasant, but very small and the tables on the first floor (the casino was split over 3 floors) were all closed on a Friday evening. Probably no more than 20 players. No restaurant either although you could get light meals at the bar. No doubt it would be busier later but I am concerned about their long term viability. I probably won't go again, but glad I managed to get some chips and a card.

And then final just under 2 hours back to Reading to collect daughter & friend for the 2 hour drive back home at midnight. Still tired today and just home after today's football match. Glad tomorrow is Sunday!

I have one £5 and a couple of £1 chips for trade, and one of the Resorts World cards if anyone has anything from the UK that may be of interest, or any first issue Paris Las Vegas roulettes (I still need about half of the available colours and table combinations if anyone wants to trade).

Happy chipping grin

Jason