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.