Westminster set to announce big casino plans

The British government was set to formally lay out plans yesterday for 16 large casinos across the country, including a requirement that the gambling industry make a multi-million pound charity payment, political and industry sources said.

Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe was to make the announcement in parliament, a political source said, while an industry source said the government would give details on the set-up of new casinos, including the number of slot machines and gaming tables to be allowed.

Sutcliffe was to tell the gambling industry it needed to ensure 4 million pounds ($7.9 million) a year was paid to RIGT, The Responsibility in Gambling Trust, or the government will look to introduce some form of mandatory payment, a source said.

Currently, only about 10 percent of Britain’s 3,800 licensed gambling operators, including bookmakers, bingo halls and online gaming companies, pay money to RIGT, an independent trust given voluntary funding by the gambling industry to research and limit problem gambling.

Sutcliffe’s announcement should also end talk about a so-called supercasino, which had been set to be built in Manchester, northern England, before plans were effectively shelved by Gordon Brown last July, shortly after he became Prime Minister.

Brown said there should be better ways to regenerate the area and launched a review of casino policy, which would result in yesterday’s statement.

Manchester had won a competition to host a Las Vegas-style casino as part of plans under former Prime Minister Tony Blair for more casinos to help regenerate deprived neighborhoods.

But politicians, led by church leaders in the House of Lords, Britain’s upper chamber, rejected the plan for Manchester following months of lobbying by campaigners against gambling addiction.

The government is to offer multimillion pound regeneration packages to Manchester and Blackpool to make up for the decision not to grant a supercasino license.

Ministers will soften the impact of Gordon Brown’s “big moral decision” with a series of measures, including a 10m ($19.7 m) boost for Manchester’s Sports City, the one-time planned site for the casino. They are also expected to announce that 4,000 jobs will be created by extending until 2014 the life of the urban regeneration company New East Manchester, which was due to close shortly.

A higher education initiative, including a campus boosting the number of students in the city, is also on the cards. Ministerial sources hope the package will be sufficient to prevent the Labour-controlled Manchester city council seeking a judicial review of the decision not to go ahead with the supercasino in Beswick, one of its most rundown areas.

Labour MPs had pleaded with culture secretary Andy Burnham to delay the announcement confirming Manchester was not to host a supercasino until he had a regeneration package to announce as compensation. Some of the investment will go on a BMX extreme sports center. The city council says it invested nearly 250,000 ($493,000) in its efforts to win the supercasino and made no bid for a medium-sized casino. The local authority is bitter at Brown’s handling of the issue but has been explicit that it will not go ahead with legal action if some kind of jobs package is presented.

Blackpool will be told it can go ahead with a 300 m ($591 m) regeneration package, including an 82 m ($162 m) investment in 3.2km of new sea defenses.

Source: China Daily

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