Manchester threatens to take the government to court over Gordon Brown’s decision to scrap a Las Vegas-style super-casino promised to the city. Legal advisers told the Labour-controlled city council that it has strong grounds to seek a judicial review of the prime minister’s U-turn over the gambling act, the Financial Times said. Sir Howard Bernstein, the council’s CEO, said yesterday: "We will look very carefully at how we protect our interests. I wouldn’t rule out legal action."

Scrapping Manchester's supercasino in favour of other regeneration projects would cost 3,000 jobs and GBP 1bn, the city council has claimed. The figures are revealed in documents sent by town hall officers to a government panel looking at alternative ways of bringing work and economic wealth to the proposed site of the casino at Sportcity. The dossier was prepared after Gordon Brown called a halt to plans for the supercasino during the summer.

A supercasino in Manchester would not lead to an explosion of problem gambling and should go ahead, a major study will claim today. The document will find 'little evidence' that the GBP 265m development - earmarked for east Manchester but set to be scrapped after an apparent u-turn by Gordon Brown - would 'significantly' increase the number of gambling addicts.

Manchester City Council is continuing to campaign for a regional casino to be located in the city. Council leader Sir Richard Leese met with Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week who told them a casino was not "dead in the water". The government has said it wants a review of the issue which will be led by Salford MP Hazel Blears.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is reflecting on plans to build a Las Vegas-style supercasino in Manchester, his spokesman said on Thursday, after Brown sparked fury among casino supporters by backing away from the proposal. Brown told parliament on Wednesday that there may be better ways to encourage economic growth in the northern English city than building a gambling centre and a government source told Reuters the supercasino plan was close to being shelved.

Manchester's supercasino bid is back on track after a legal challenge claiming new casinos would be unfair to existing venues was thrown out. The British Casino Association (BCA) had claimed plans for 17 new casinos - including a Las Vegas-style casino near Sportcity - could cost jobs across the country. But High Court judge Mr Justice Langstaff ruled against the challenge on all counts.

The minister in charge of gambling has admitted the government has 'not got a position' on how to take forward Manchester's supercasino bid. Richard Caborn told the M.E.N. his department was still considering its next steps after the House of Lords blocked the plan, which would have brought 3,000 jobs to a deprived part of east Manchester near SportCity. "We have not got a position on it at present," he said. "We want the 17 casinos determined by the Casino Advisory Panel (CAP).

One of the world's leading experts on gambling will this week denounce the decision to award the first supercasino licence to Manchester. Prof Peter Collins, who helped to draw up the Government's gambling legislation in 2003, will tell a committee of peers that the conclusions reached by the Casino Advisory Panel (CAP) about the merits of bids by the city and its six rivals were "often arbitrary, highly disputable, and based on reasoning which is frequently inconsistent, superficial and ill-informed".

Los Angeles (Reuters) - Las Vegas Sands Corp. is interested in investing at least USD 760 million (390 million pounds) in a casino resort in the UK, but only if it can add amenities such as retail malls and permanent residences, the company's chief operating officer said on Monday. Speaking at the Reuters Hotels and Casinos Summit, William Weidner also said that Sands does not expect Japan to pass a law allowing casinos before next year.