Holland Casino is leaving the city of Groningen and moving into a newly built gambling palace on the A7, just across the border in Drenthe. A loss for the city or a blessing? “The casino colors the city.”
‘Bizarre that the casino chooses this’
Peter Michiel Schaap, director of GRAS architecture center in Groningen:
“The entrance to the city from the direction of Drachten is terrible with the ugliest Van der Valk in the Netherlands, a building without any character, the McDonald’s, a crematorium and the Aldi distribution center on the left. Welcome to Groningen. And now the casino that comes with it. A non-place: visitors to the casino drive there, maybe eat something at Van der Valk or McDonald’s or they don’t stay at all and go home after the casino visit. I find it bizarre that the casino chooses this, this is not how you should want it to be. It’s all about the casino, this location adds nothing. If you want to make more of a city, you have to think about how you use urban functions, how they relate to the street, the neighborhood, the city. I find the whole course of events unimaginable: Holland Casino has been stringing the municipality of Groningen along for years. It is a pity that a state-owned company has taken such a prominent place as the Kattendiep hostage. Those are wasted years. Holland Casino did not want to participate in the city’s slightly higher ambition level, otherwise it would have opted for the Europa Park where it fits in with the stadium and the cinema and the other facilities that are already there. The municipality of Tynaarlo has been parasitizing on the success of the municipality of Groningen for years: its residents use the city’s facilities and pay taxes to the municipality of Tynaarlo. What poverty.”
‘The new location on the A7 is much better’
Johannes Adema from Oosterwolde (Friesland), gambler and frequent visitor of Holland Casino in Groningen:
“I have been coming to Holland Casino for more than 30 years, two or three times a week. I think the new location on the A7 is much better, much more accessible on the main road. Beautiful! And more anonymous. A gambler generally wants to remain anonymous. I think where the casino is now is a bad location, difficult to get to. The old casino, on the Kattendiep in the city center, was nice because a casino fits more with the city center in terms of atmosphere and conviviality, but parking was difficult. That parking garage was always full.”
‘I understand that the casino chooses the visible location on the A7’
Eric Bos, chairman of the Groningen City Club:
“In my opinion, as an entrepreneur you take your chance if you have been waiting for a new location for years. Of course, I have not sat down with the municipality and Holland Casino, but I have heard from a Holland Casino manager that there was no progress in the matter. The municipality of Groningen knew that it was dealing with an interested company, it also knew that there were privateers on the coast. Then you have to do everything you can to attract such an important company to you, you have to act actively and not wait until the ax is hanging over your head. |Now that I have an overview of the entire battlefield, I understand that it is not only the municipality that is to blame for the departure of the casino, it has suggested several opportunities and possibilities. It is also due to other parties, not least the casino itself and the municipality of Tynaarlo. I understand that Holland Casino chose the visible location on the A7 and not the business complex in the Europapark. It’s a shame that the casino is gone from the city, because it will now miss people from outside who combined a visit to the casino with a snack and a drink in the city, who went shopping there. Such a casino belongs in the provincial capital.”
‘A loss for the city’
Theater manager Esther Daems of the Pathé cinema in the city center of Groningen:
“I think it’s a shame when major crowd-pullers leave the city. The fact that the casino is moving to the A7 is a real loss. The city therefore lacks visitors, excitement and experience. The casino colors the city and helps to put the city permanently on the map, also because casino visitors come from everywhere and are not related to the city or the province. The casino attracts many Germans. There is of course a group of visitors who only come for the casino, but there is a large group who look for cross-pollination with the city and make a weekend out of it.”
‘Finally something will happen at ground zero’
Niels van den Bosch, hotel manager City Hotel at Kattendiep in Groningen:
“It’s a terrible shame that the casino is leaving the city. In addition to the fact that the casino is complementary to the hotel, it has an evening function, good for the buzz, fits in a city, although to be fair it attracts a certain audience at times. At the same time, I am glad that the bullet has been put through the church and is over on the other side of us ground zero as we sometimes call it, what is going to happen. It has become a bit of an unsavory place after the fire, and an ugly part of the city at that. It is in a dilapidated state, and we as a hotel are definitely bothered by that. With the current housing shortage, I expect it to have a residential function, combined with nice shops, I hope. Or with a renowned, international company.”
‘The casino once added grandeur to the city’
Dirk Nijdam, director of Forum Groningen, formerly of Marketing Groningen:
“The casino was once a very important player in the city, per visitor the casino put a guilder or a euro into a pot and with that they helped pay for the decoration of the city center or if someone wanted to organize an event, they could knock on your door. at the casino. Adding grandeur to the city with a gambling palace sounds dubious, but it once was. But the role of the casino has changed. This efficient location on the A7 fits in with this: you can gamble there, you can park your car well and there will still be deep-pile carpet. That is incomparable with the role in nightlife that the casino once had. The casino on the A7 adds nothing to the city center and that is a loss, a loss of income, including in terms of food, drinks and accommodation. The casino represented a different audience in the city center and contributed to the diversity of the offer. Too bad it’s gone, because Groningen is a compact city. Whether you go to the provincial government building, to the UMCG or to Ikea: everything can be done by bike.”
‘It is a trend to sit on the highway’
Robert Berting, was director of Holland Casino Groningen from 1995 to 2005 (and then national director until 2009):
“The casino completes the nightlife of a city, just like cinemas and restaurants. The casino was part of a night out, as a conscious choice. Holland Casino’s new approach seems to be to sit on the highway, which is also what happened in Venlo. During my time at Kattendiep we became increasingly limited and we looked for a new location, for example near Martiniplaza. I remember that in the year 2000 the plans for the Euroborg were presented and the casino was simply registered there without us knowing. We didn’t want that, we didn’t want to be in an isolated place where there was nothing. Then councilor Koen Schuiling wanted to have a conversation with us.”
‘If you want to gamble, you gamble’
Johan from Groningen, ex-gambling addict and volunteer at Anonymous Gamblers Area Gamblers (AGOG):
“Gambling is one of the oldest things in the world, you cannot ban it. I would rather see it regulated like at Holland Casino, then there is still some control over the people and the intensity of gambling. But inside there is a business model: money has to be made. You also saw this after the casino fire in 2017: Holland Casino then deployed shuttle buses to the Leeuwarden branch. Not because they like their visitors so much, but because money had to come in. Now that the casino is leaving the city, the city center is missing casino visitors, but I think that has been the case since the fire and the temporary location on Europaweg. For gamblers, it doesn’t matter whether the casino is in the city center or on the A7, because if you want to gamble, you gamble.”