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11 January 2006
Manchester Asserts Itself As A
Super Casino Contender
Manchester
claims its bid to host the UK's only super
casino has been
boosted by a new £50,000 report, alleging that it
remains the only viable alternative to a venue in
London.
The conclusions of the
document, which was commissioned by the city council and
will be issued later this month, are in contrast to an
earlier report, published last year and undertaken by the
Northwest Regional Development Agency, the North West
Regional Assembly and the Government Office for the North
West. It had recommended Blackpool as its location of choice
for a so-called super casino.
The Manchester bid, which
has been drawn up by the council with casino giants Kerzner
International, would feature two live entertainment centres
with a 5,000 total capacity, which would potentially
generate large amounts of work for light entertainers. The
complex would be located at SportCity, which housed the last
Commonwealth Games.
Sean McGonigle,
co-ordinator for the regeneration initiative connected to
the Manchester bid, explained: "Manchester believes it has a
very, very strong case and we believe the east Manchester
site is a very strong one. The report was commissioned to
measure the strength of Manchester's work to date on the bid
and it has reaffirmed that we have a good case.
"The report also found
that likely competition for the regional casino is going to
be from London and the south-east and Manchester will be in
the best place to compete against that."
Blackpool, however, has
maintained that it has an extremely strong case for hosting
the regional casino and believes that its "masterplan" for a
regeneration of the town using the regional casino as a
catalyst gives it an advantage over competitors.
A spokesperson for the
Blackpool bid commented: "Blackpool is a seaside resort and
that is what it is known for, so its model [for the
regional casino] is destination, not doorstep, gambling.
Because of that, it envisages the regional casino as a
catalyst for an economic masterplan, with a package
including 5-star hotels, new retail facilities, a new
conference centre and new entertainment
facilities.
"In the region, there are
lots of areas of deprivation but for Blackpool there is very
little else that would regenerate the town in the way a
regional casino would. It needs a catalyst that would work
all year round."
Blackpool has had
expressions of interest from 22 operators from the UK, US
and South Africa but has not yet chosen its preferred
partner for the bid. The spokesperson added that in the run
up to the Casino Advisory Panel's recommendation on the
location of the one regional casino, the town will "continue
to talk to as many people as it can to make sure they
understand the strength of Blackpool's case".
Meanwhile, it has been
announced that Kerzner is also drawing up plans with
Anschutz Entertainment Group to develop a casino at The O2,
the 26,000 capacity entertainment venue being developed on
the site of the Millennium Dome.
Related pages:
Manchester
City Joins Race To Land UK Casino
Jackpot
United's
Chances Of Super Casino Remote
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