SuperCasino dog fight (update 25/5/06)

Only one place in Britain will be given the right to build a super casino, or regional casino, by the Gambling Commission. This casino must have a minimum 5,000 sq m customer area and 1,250 unlimited jackpot slot machines. The decision will be made by the Casino Advisory Panel who have put the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons by announcing a short-list of 8 areas that will be considered further, from an initial bid list of 27, and those not on the short-list are not happy. The supercasino is expected to bring a massive amount of money to the area that builds it, and as such many councils feel that their area is the obvious choice, and do not want to be sidelined at an early stage. Only written bids have been considered and the Casino Advisory Panel now plans to visit personally the sites on the short list to look at them and talk with locals. But, disgruntled councils and any one else like the church, the public and even regional planning bodies have until 28 June to submit comments that may make the panel reconsider. However, there is such a lot of money at stake that thwarted councils are already threatening to take Legal Action to get themselves reinstated on the list, and therefore part of the consideration process one again. The areas on the shortlist are Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester, Blackpool, Brent (Wembley Stadium, London), Greenwich (Millennium Dome, London), and Cardiff.

Meanwhile, a shortlist for small and large casinos has also been announced, with many cities applying for all three types of casino. A large casino should be a minimum of 1,500 sq m of customer area and have 150 slot machines with a jackpot limit of £4,000, of which eight will be licenced. A small casino should be a minimum of 750 sq m of customer area and have up to 80 slot machines with a jackpot limit of £4,000, and again, eight will be licenced. The 31 councils on this shortlist are: Bath & NorthEast Somerset; Bournemouth, Brighton, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Dartford, Dudley, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Great Yarmouth, Hastings, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Luton, Mansfield, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newham, NE Lincs, Peterborough, Restormel, Scarborough, Sefton, Solihull, Southampton, South Tyneside, Swansea, Thurrock, Torbay, Wolverhampton. The Casino Advisory Panel has announced that only written bids will be considered for small and large casino licences.

The new Gambling Act 2005 has allowed for one super-casino and 16 regional casinos to be built, and towns and cities around Great Britain are bidding to be selected so they can build a new casino. It’s unlikely that you do not live within a few miles of one of these developments, so keep watching this space for news of when the right to develop will be awarded. Towns and cities that want the casinos have already applied locally for planning permission, so that work can start as soon as the go-ahead is received.

The super-casino will be Las Vegas style, i.e. huge and glitzy, with 1,250 slot machines and unlimited stake and prize money on offer. It is hoped it will also bring plenty of jobs and regeneration to the area that gets to build it. At the moment it is down to a Casino Advisory Panel to look through all the applications from sites around Great Britain, and by Christmas we should know what’s what.

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