It is said that the government is planning to push through a new vote on the 16 large and small casinos even if the issue of the super casino is frozen until after the 2010 elections. The super casino may have stolen all the headlines but the other new licences, albeit on a much smaller scale, are also being questioned. The British Casino Association (BCA) will today launch a High Court challenge, arguing that operators of the new licences will have an unlawful competitive advantage over existing casinos.

Over 90% of casino operators in the UK belong to the BCA and it claims to give members a powerful voice in governmental and law issues. The Association has submitted an application for a judicial review, backed by five of its members. These companies operate 116 of the 138 land-based casinos in Britain. If the new licences are deemed to pose unfair competition to existing casinos then the government’s plans to deregulate gaming are once again in disarray. Investment and regeneration, once the clarion call for the Gambling Act, face further delays.

Manchester, which won the bidding process for the super casino and approval in the House of Commons, only to be denied by the House of Lords, has seen its initial jubilation turn to dismay and disillusionment. There is little hope that there will be a Las Vegas style casino in the city any time soon. There is more optimism that licensing of the other sixteen locations will proceed before long, but there is still the hurdle of unfair competition claims, and legal challenges could go beyond UK boundaries to the European courts.

The locations named by the Casino Advisory Panel and awaiting the go-ahead for larger casinos are: Leeds, Middlesbrough, Great Yarmouth, Milton Keynes, Solihull, Southampton, Newham in east London and Hull (up to 150 gaming machines) and Skegness, Bath, Stranraer, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton (up to 80 gaming machines). The machines are allowed a maximum jackpot payout of £4,000 (US$8,000). (E-05.17.07)

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