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I have just spent an hour or 2 sitting in court to observe the hearing for Dusk til Dawn.

As I arrived Rob was just taking the stand and spent an hour explaining the club to the magistrates with the help of questions from his solicitor. I believe Simon Trumper had taken the stand this morning.

Then it was the turn of one of the objector’s barrister's to fire the questions.

Rob needed to be on his guard as the barrister systematically tried to discredit the demand for the club and the viability on a day to day financial basis. How many dealers will you need each day? How many chefs, How many valets? What about on busy days? What about festivals? How many players? How much money will they spend? Where will they spend it? Why did you build the club before you got a license?

Rob was being put through the wrangle but dealt with it all in his own brutally honest and frank way which ironically seemed to disorientate the barrister.

In the gallery there was an array of men in suits taking notes on everything that was said working for the press or the barristers I don’t know?

As I left the barrister continued his probing trying to find a weakness or contradiction to exploit.

What the magistrates make of it all I don’t know?

Its going to be a long week for Poker though and for Rob.

this stinks, corporate protectionism.

Good luck Rob.

As long as they keep going back to the basic facts - the club is in Nottingham, Rob is a good guy who has gone through all the hoops correctly, the others are worried about competition. They are objecting, not the magistrates, and they have a long way to go to make a decent case imho.

This makes me so ******* angry ;grr; I dont know how Rob & the team manage,  lets hope common sense prevails

Agreed - and to be honest viability is not really anyone elses business -although the casino's obviously think it's viable otherwise they wouldn't be worried about him opening in the first place!

Did I have to answer to anyone when I started my business? No. It is ridiculous.

I just don't understand why "demand" seems to be the fulcrum of the objector's argument.

If the demand isn't there then the place will go busto.

If the demand isn't there then the casinos have nothing to worry about.

I'm confused ???

Surely common sense must prevail here.

the good news, is that they are off and running, after months and months of procrastination by the "competition".

As I understand it the GC and the Local Authority have already given their blessing to the club. Therefore it would be a major shock for a magistrate to reverse this without some new earth shattering evidence being presented.

What i don't understand is why it is even a consideration for "the State" to use this as a criteria for deciding whether to agree a licence or not.

Have we become a Communist state when i was not looking, and "the State" regulates at what level supply is set?

Blimey someone was listening at Uni.......but good point.

 :goodpost: ;iagree;

Thanks for the report, Chris.

Let's hope the Magistrate sees sense.

Thinking of Rob and the team - we are all behind you, guys.

B&H

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty", so it's all your fault.

We live in a world of constantly increasing regulation and I, for one, am getting completely p*ssed off.

Frankly the Magistrates are Laymen and women from everyday life.... They will be guided by the Magistrates Clerk and as has been said with Rob giving honest answers it will through them a bit..asking about Chefs and Valets is a smokescreen... If, as has been previously mentioned,all they submittted was a couple of scabby brochures and corporate reports then for them to whip a "Rabbit out of the hat" would amount to abuse of due process... Hopefully day two will reveal nothing untoward... The Clerk will be guiding the court and we can but hope it's a young fellow-me-lad who has a love of "our" game , as he will be guiding the magistrates. It looks largely that the suits are just going through the paces....

Remember Rob ask them to re-phrase the question when they have launched into a long and labourious question ....Its my top tip !!!

Im on the edge of my seat following this and so want DTD to suceed

The "state" do control the applications for new large supermarkets and consider the supply/demand factor before agreeing or disagreeing to their application. As far as I was aware this is the only consumer sector that is subject to such controls and thought normal market forces are the only determining factor in the creation and subsequent success/failure of any business. Ironically the legislative control of supermarkets applications is to ensure the powerful supermarkets can't just flood the market. Any ruling in support of the objectors against DTD would be giving the power to the casino cartel. DTD must be allowed to open and trade as per any other normal business and the objectors should be made to not only pay all court costs but should cover all DTD's running costs during the adjournment.  

is that legally an option....I do hope so

Because the only condition the license can be refused on is lack of demand. It's their fulcrum becuase it's the only thing that matters! We all know DTD will be the most in demand poker venue in Europe, what a big waste of everyones time and money these objections are.

It would be delicious, and no more than both parties deserve.

Demand for any business is a material consideration for granting licenses. I see a whole lot of places of business turned down because the applicants can't`prove demand (and I spend my entire friggin day knee deep in planning applications and all that).
 Having said that, Rob is an astute businessman who, I'm sure, has all the numbers worked out and has plenty people signed up to DTD already.
 Saying there isn't enough demand is very difficult in this case as the casino's themselves do want to open up new places there. Essentially the lawyers for the casinos are going for the long shot now as they have nothing else they can do (nothing that is a material consideration for granting of a license)..they know they are very likely to lose but they have nothing else they can do and have already achieved their goal by postponing the opening of DTD for all these months.

If I remember rightly, the magistrate can refuse to grant the licence for only 2 reasons, the first is demand. If there is sufficient demand already in the area and the objectors can prove it, then the magistrate can refuse the application, the other reason is environmental grounds I think. There is also a rule of thumb, and I think it is (for bookies) another outlet withing a 1/4 mile radius, is enough to satisfy demand.

I am 99% sure they are the only reasons a court can refuse, I am sure someone will put me right if I am wrong. Gambling law is not my strong point.

essentially you're right..environmentally being Local Aminety and all that. DTD should be fine on that one from my understanding.

how many days is this expected to last?

I think the courts have allocated 4 days

Hi Guys - I have posted this in my diary:

I would love to give you all a detailed update of the proceedings today, but it is not permitted, we were told under no uncertain terms that the contents of todays hearing were not to be made public. I'm not sure exactly why, as there were members of the press present, but I have to respect the magistrates courts directive, especially as extracts from my Blondepoker dusk till (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload) dawn (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload) Diary were used to cross examine today me by the Gala barrister.

However, what I can say is :

1. All parties agreed that this case will not last 4 days, and a decisions end of play Tuesday/early Wednesday is likely

2. Nothing happended today that has changed my view of a positive outcome for dusk till (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload) dawn (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload)

3. There were only 2 objectors, London Clubs International decided to withdraw their objection 30 minutes before the case began.

Thank you for all your good luck posts,

Cheers Rob

WOOHOOO 1 down..2 to go

Good Luck Rob x

LCI quite clearly found they couldn't make a case (assuming they didn't all of a sudden think "Oh wait we're not being fair") and that they've achieved their goal, strange that the others decided to go ahead.

Best of luck today Rob.

Clearly they are muppets who are incapable of laying down a two outer.

Best of luck for today Rob.  Surely a boost that LCI withdrew their objection before the start of the case, that can only strengthen your case. 

Lol thats a classic

Good luck with the rest of the hearing

As mentioned in Rob's Blog, the local press are running this article -

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=195917&command=displayContent&sourceNode=134241&contentPK=18484396&folderPk=78486&pNodeId=133951

It wasn't that good, unless by "classic" you meant "fell out of my cot laughing when I first heard that one"  ;)

lol..excellent summing up!

Hi - I posted this on my diary thread


I had to leave the hearing at 12pm today, to attend a funeral at Redditch of one of my longest serving staff, Lisa Bayliss. She took her own life tragically last week at the age of 35 - I decided that no matter what was happening at the hearing, I would make it to the funeral, when events like this happen, it really puts a casino licence into perpective.

Anyway, the latest news from today (Day 2) is:

1. The 3 Magistrates visited dusk till (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload) dawn (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload) today and were given a tour by Simon (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=400) Trumper (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=400). They also visited London Clubs International's card room, apparently they were already familiar with Stanleys and Gala casinos.

2. All evidence from dt (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload)d (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload), Gala and Stanley has been given now. Gala and Stanleys put one Director from each of their companies on the stand today.

3. Tomorrow at 10am, each of the three Barristors will give the "closing statements" to the court, then the court will break for lunch, and between 1pm and 2pm we will get a decision.

My next post (and maybe the final one) on this thread will be THE RESULT, good or bad.......the dt (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload)d (http://www.dtdpoker.com/aff/BlonditesDownload) project - "the set up of Europes largest poker club" will be at last over...............

Cheers Rob


 

Everything crossed!

All the very best for tomorrow.

Bainn & Harmony

Best of luck, surely sense and logic has to prevail!

Condolences Rob and to Lisa's family and other friends.

Good luck for tomorrow.

Its getting exciting now, fingers crossed!!!!!!

Tikay ringing Rob now to see if any news........texting me back!

Please keep us informed.

Fingers crossed!

He's mastered Texting ? ! ?

lol!

Quicker to call him lol