Brit Bill Now Needs A 'Miracle'

Britain's increasingly unpopular Gambling Bill is in danger of being shunted off its political tracks and could be derailed altogether unless there are further significant climbdowns by ministers.

With a general election scheduled for early May and only a few weeks to get the Bill approved in the Lords, Conservative shadow culture secretary Malcolm Moss has said that only a 'miracle' would see the Bill passed in time.

He said the government had gone down 'something of a cul-de-sac' and had created a bill that 'almost nobody wants.'

Claims by Derek Jeffrey, the chief executive of the British Casino Association, that government ministers, including Lord McIntosh and Richard Caborn, were 'considering dropping the casino elements of the Bill in order to get it passed,' were dismissed by a spokesman for the department for culture, media and sport. "Anyone who is looking at this realises time is tight and it is possible it will run out of time before May elections," Jeffrey warned.

The 8:8:8 cap for the three different tiers of proposed casinos has caused uproar amongst existing operators, who have also now been effectively told there will be a fourth category of casino, those smaller than the small definition, which won't be allowed more than the existing 10 category B machines.

If the bill does go through it will be the end of 2006 before anything is finalised concerning where the new casinos will be housed.

A government-appointed panel will produce a shortlist of recommended locations for each category of style casino although the task will not be completed for another two years.

The depressing time scale will then see local authorities in these areas invite applications to tender from gaming operators, who will compete for the chance to develop the licences.

Existing operators are believed to have welcomed the prospect of the bill being shunned into the next parliament, with the hope that different ministers would prove more sympathetic to British companies.