Torquay United Fans Forum

1. Gaming International started life as the Bristol Stadium Company in 1932. After various name changes it did not become Gaming International until 2001 when it acquired interests in the Japanese pachinko market.

2. From 1932 to 1997 the company operated Eastville Stadium in Bristol. The company bought the stadium from Bristol Rovers in 1940 and acted as the football club’s landlord until its departure in 1986. Clarke Osborne, current chairman of Gaming International, worked for the stadium company when Bristol Rovers left and he was signing off company reports as secretary during the mid 1980s.

3. The Bristol stadium company also operated the dog track at Oxford between 1952 and 1975. Early in his career Clarke Osborne was general manager at Oxford between 1973 and 1975. The track was sold to the local council for housing but was later revived by other greyhound racing operators.

4. Land adjoining the Eastville Stadium was sold to Tesco in 1985; the rest of the site to IKEA in 1997. With the closure of Eastville the stadium’s greyhound licence switched to the newly-acquired Swindon site. This soon became the company’s operating base.

5. Between 1995 and 1997 the company started to run the greyhound and speedway stadium at Poole and the dog track at Milton Keynes. It also became involved in the Milton Keynes Bowl at this time.

6. Gaming International continues to own and operate the Swindon track whilst leasing Poole stadium form the local council.

7. Gaming International remains involved in the Milton Keynes Bowl, chiefly an open-air concert venue, but greyhound racing no longer exists in Milton Keynes. Plans to build a new facility next to the Bowl did not come to fruition and the dog track closed in 2005. A fire destroyed the stadium shortly afterwards and the land is now used for housing.

8. Gaming International purchased the greyhound and speedway stadium at Reading in 2002. This was operated by Stadia UK, a subsidiary business, until the cessation of greyhound racing in 2008. The company’s plans to move to an adjacent site did not materialise and the stadium has since been demolished without being replaced.

9. The Swindon site was identified as inadequate and suitable for re-development as early as 2003. Active efforts to build a new stadium commenced in 2007 but so far work has not started on a new track.

10. Gaming International moved into Japanese pachinko gaming (a form of pinball) in 2001 following the purchase of Miyadera Gaming Center. This necessitated refocusing and restructuring of the business under a reconstituted board. The venture was over by 2005 after which time Gaming International returned to its core business of operating venues in the UK.

11. The Bristol stadium company participated in the Centre for Sport project in 1985 which would have seen a joint greyhound and football venue built at Stoke Gifford near Bristol. Plans did not progress after initial discussions and proposals.

12. In 2003 Gaming International joined forces with Steve Lansdown (Bristol City) and Geoff Dunford (Bristol Rovers) in a venture known as South Gloucestershire Arenas. This proposed a 30,000 capacity stadium for both clubs on the Severnside marshes. The project was abandoned after a few months.

13. Between 1996 and 2001 the company (then known as the BS Group) had a stake in Hereford United’s Edgar Street ground. This was in partnership with Chelverton Properties with the plan to sell the ground to a supermarket chain. BS Group was able to secure a stake by making an emergency market-rate, repayable loan to an ailing Hereford United that was heading for relegation from the Football League in 1997. BS Group withdrew from the arrangement in 2001.

14. Other company operations have included Knightstone Island (Weston-super-Mare) and Eastville Market (Bristol). Clarke Osborne was a director of Ocean Parcs which ran Pontins at a time of severe financial difficulty between 2007 and 2010.

15. According to Companies House Clarke Osborne’s latest business venture is the incorporation of Riviera Stadium Ltd on 22 March 2016.