UK regional casino in jeopardy

As forecast in yesterday’s InterGame Online, the new British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has caused uproar in the UK casino industry by killing off plans for the country's first regional ‘super-casino.’

In a reply during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons yesterday, Brown said the regeneration of inner city areas would be a “better way” to help deprived areas than opening Las Vegas-style casinos.

Under Tony Blair's leadership, Manchester had won the campaign for the only super-casino licence after a £150,000 campaign. The proposed £200m investment was to have created nearly 3,000 jobs, with Kerzner International building and running the complex.

The other 16 medium and large casinos that were also in the policy will remain on schedule, although both Manchester and its main rival for the super-casino, Blackpool, will have to be introduced into that process now, and fresh competition will get under way.

The opposition Conservative Party were critical of the decision because Brown, while he was Chancellor under Blair, had repeatedly voted in favour of the super-casino plan.

The Commons decision to scale down the original eight super-casinos to just one for a test period was passed with a narrow majority after some Labour MPs opposed the measure. In March, however, the House of Lords threw out the proposal.

The Prime Minister is now advocating a period of “reflection” on the proposals before the publication in September of a report on the social impact of gambling. "I hope that during these summer months we can look at whether regeneration in the areas for the super-casinos may be a better way of meeting their economic and social needs than the creation of super-casinos," he said.

Despite this, however, Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese remained upbeat, and refused to take the news as a sign that a regional casino was off the agenda.

"With a new Prime Minister taking over, we were always aware that it would be autumn before we knew definitively how the Government intends to address the proposal to site a regional casino in Manchester," he told InterGaming.

"I have read Gordon Brown's comments and think the negative analysis which some commentators are placing on them is overstated. There is no need for panic. We will continue to push for a destination casino in east Manchester, which we believe will deliver the maximum regeneration benefits for the area."