Manchester Wins Super-Casino License, Huge Poker & Slots Venue

In a surprising announcement today, Manchester won the right to build Britain's first Las Vegas-style super-casino, complete with poker tables and slots. They beat Greenwich and Blackpool, which were considered popular frontrunners.

The five-person Casino Advisory Panel selected the northwest England city of Manchester from a list of seven locations including Blackpool, Greenwich and Glasgow, Cardiff, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Professor Stephen Crow, chairman of the Casino Advisory Panel, said Manchester had been chosen because of its "very thorough consultation" with the local community and "the way it dealt with questions of problem gambling".

Professor Crow told BBC News 24 the Casino Advisory Panel's decision was "watertight" if there were a legal challenge from any losing bidder. But the prime minister's official spokesman remarked that the UK culture secretary, "Tessa Jowell has to make up her mind whether to accept the panel's decision and then it goes to the House to vote on."

Manchester's bid organizers said it would regenerate a poor area in the east of the city around facilities built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, promising a 265 million pound (US$519.72 million or 401.12 million Euro) investment and 2,700 direct and indirect jobs. The proposed 5,000-square-meter (54,000 square feet) complex will house up to 1,250 slot machines with unlimited prizes.

A group led by Kerzner International is Manchester's preferred partner. Ladbrokes, which backed Blackpool's bid, has not ruled out bidding for work on the Manchester project with Hilton Hotels, they annouced in a statement.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is relaxing curbs on casino gaming in an effort to spur employment, tourism and investment in some of Britain's poorest areas, as the government makes the transition from the 1968 Gaming Act to the 2005 Gaming Act.

There has been speculation that more super-casino licenses might be awarded. But the BBC relayed that they understood Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell will tell MPs later that there will definitely be no more super-casino licenses granted during this Parliament.

The decision is a further blow to the Millennium Dome, now called the O2 Center, which has sat empty for most of the time since it was built to house an exhibition that marked the year 2000.

Blackpool was counting on victory to regenerate a town that has been devastated by the decline of manufacturing in northwest England and the explosion of cheap overseas vacation packages taking its traditional customers elsewhere. Blackpool has the highest rate of male suicides and alcohol-related deaths in the U.K. Reports suggest that the investors behind the Blackpool bid are now consulting lawyers over appealing against the Casino Advisory Panel's surprise announcement.

In addition to the super-casino license, the Casino Advisory Panel recommended locations for 8 "large" casinos, at: Great Yarmouth, Kingston-upon- Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newham, Solihull and Southampton. The large casinos can have a floor space of up to 3,999 square meters, of which between 1,500 and 3,499 can be gaming tables.

The Casino Advisory Panel also announced 8 licences for "small" casinos to Bath and North East Somerset, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton.

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