Manchester secures super-casino licence

The City of Manchester has been chosen as the location for Britain’s first super-casino. The announcement – issued in a final report by the Casino Advisory Panel – comes as a surprise following intense speculation that the Millennium Dome in east London and Blackpool were favourites to secure the licence. Licences for smaller casinos were granted to Great Yarmouth, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newham, Solihull and Southampton. The panel also granted licences for the smallest type of casino to Bath and North East Somerset, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton. The five-strong independent panel led by chairman professor Stephen Crow, recommended Manchester’s bid which involves a £265m leisure and entertainment development, with casino, swimming pool, urban sports centre, restaurants, bars and hotels. The panel found all of the seven shortlisted proposals to have their “own particular and compelling strengths” but added the panel was “particularly impressed by Manchester’s proposal, which in our view offers great promise.” Under government guidelines, the casino must address regeneration in the chosen area. Crow said: “We found that the proposal had a unique formula to offer which served to set it apart from the others presented to us in terms of the full range of our specific remitted criteria of best test of social impact, regeneration need and benefits and willingness to license. “Manchester represents a good place to test social impact, and the council’s consultations with other local authorities and relevant bodies gave us confidence on that. “Manchester has a catchment area for a casino second only to that of London, and it is an area in need of regeneration at least as much as any of the others we observed indeed, the city has the greatest need in terms of multiple deprivation of all the proposals that were before us. “In our view, the proposal presents the most complete package in terms of meeting our remitted criteria. Although Manchester city council says it will consider “any proposals from casino operators and developers for any site in Manchester”, the most likely location for the development is Sportcity in East Manchester, close to the City of Manchester Stadium. Manchester will now undertake a competitive tender process to comply fully with the Gambling Act. The council says it will invite proposals which will “provide the maximum benefit for the City’s most deprived communities and effectively ensure that those communities are protected from any negative effects of the development”. Councillor Richard Leese, leader of Manchester city council, said: “This is fantastic news for Manchester, and the region. “We have always believed that Manchester offers a robust test bed for the successful implementation of this major leisure and tourism development. “The casino will be located at the heart of a city-region with a population of 3m. “Manchester has an unrivalled track record in the delivery of major regeneration schemes so we are confident we have the expertise to deliver a world-class venue, creating thousands of new jobs for local people.” Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester city council, who caused controversy by publicly questioning Blackpool’s rival bid last autumn, added: “This will bring massive investment to Manchester creating much needed jobs and training opportunities in the catering, hospitality and leisure industries. “The proposed development will not only attract visitors, boosting the local and regional economy, but it will provide new state-of-the-art venues for the local community to enjoy.”