Super casino finally bites the dust

Author: Simon Dexter

So Manchester’s plans for a “super casino”, set to create 3,000 jobs and rival the best of the genre to be found in the USA and Asia have finally been jettisoned in favour of a proposal to construct 16 smaller casinos across the country.

Instead of the city being revitalised by hundreds of millions in private funding, it now transpires that both Manchester and Blackpool, the two cities originally earmarked as probable homes for the UK’s first super casinos, will receive government handouts in a belated attempt to boost economic regeneration. One local Lib-Dem spokesman said the decision had prevented “the creation of 3,000 jobs and £265m of investment in east Manchester.”

The 16 smaller casinos will be graded according to internal space allocated for slot machines, with the eight largest permitted up to 150 machines each. These are scheduled to be built in Great Yarmouth, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newham, Solihull and Southampton. The remaining eight casinos will each be allowed a maximum of 80 machines: these are planned to be built in Bath, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton.

It’s not an ideal solution by any means, but at least new employment will be created in areas which have long required an economic boost. Perhaps sneering commentators such as Janet Street-Porter, who suggested in last Sunday’s Independent that the 16 casinos would provide jobs “for a few cleaners” should put their bright, thoughtful and considered economic theories to the test after the places have been open for a few months.

Tags: casino venues, Super casino, UK casino

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 11:51 am and is filed under News & Promotions Blog.