Casino shortlist unveiled

Eight local authorities, mainly city councils, have made the shortlist of potential hosts for the country's first regional or 'Las Vegas-style' casino.

A further 31 are still in the running for the 16 large and small casinos allowed under the government's new gambling regime.

Some 67 councils originally made formal submissions to the Casino Advisory Panel proposing schemes in their area.

The eight going neck-to-neck for the sole regional casino include Blackpool (believed to be the front-runner), Brent, Cardiff, Glasgow, Greenwich, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Local authorities who failed to make the final cut reacted angrily to the news with some, such as Southend and Coventry threatening either legal action or some form of appeal.

Chairman of the panel, Professor Stephen Crow, said: "I know that our decisions will cause disappointment to some, not least to authorities who had looked to their casino proposal as a means of alleviating severe problems of deprivation or improving social conditions and meeting the need for economic regeneration."

Shortlisted authorities hoping for one of the eight large and small casinos are; Bath & NE Somerset, Bournemouth, Brighton, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Dartford, Dudley, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Great Yarmouth, Hastings, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Luton, Mansfield, Middlesborough, Milton Keynes, Newham, N E Lincs, Peterborough, Restormel, Scarborough, Sefton, Solihull, Southampton, South Tyneside, Swansea, Thurrock, Torbay and Wolverhampton.

All the short-listed proposals will receive further scrutiny, some via examination-in-public style assessments later this summer.

Others will be assessed by written representation with the view of regional organisation contributing to the final list due to be submitted to the Culture Secretary by the end of the year.

View the 'Provisional shortlist of successful proposals' here (PDF 53kb).

Roger Milne

25 May 2006