British bookmaker and entrepreneur Victor Chandler says the government was right to scrap plans for a Las Vegas-style super-casino in Manchester. Chandler reckons a huge multi-million pound supercasino – with 1,250 unlimited stake and jackpot machines – would have provoked gambling addiction. “The biggest damage I’ve seen to society is in South Africa’s casinos,“ says Chandler, who moved his entire bookmaking business to Gibraltar in the late nineties to escape betting tax.

Manchester City Council will not be pursuing legal action against the government over its abandonment of the super-casino project. Instead, it will work with a task force exploring ways of generating the same number of jobs a casino would have brought to east Manchester. Leader Sir Richard Leese said there was more to be gained from working with, rather than against, the government.

A GBP 250 million opera house is being planned as Manchester’s ‚payback‘ for being denied the country’s first super casino. The ambitious development would see the world’s leading singers performing at the venue in east Manchester – the area let down by the government’s U-turn on expanding the gambling industry. Talks are already underway between the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and the city council about building a ’national opera house‘ in the north.

Harrah’s Entertainment on Tuesday said it will continue to pursue gaming opportunities in the United Kingdom casino market despite the government’s decision to not approve plans for a „supercasino“ in Manchester, England. The British government announced Tuesday what had been rumored for weeks: It will license 16 casinos to be built in the United Kingdom but veto plans for a „supercasino“ slated for Manchester in northwest England.

Große Enttäuschung bei den Stadtoberen von Manchester: Die britische Regierung hat endgültig ursprüngliche Pläne fallen gelassen, in der nordenglischen Metropole ein Super-Casino nach dem Vorbild von Las Vegas errichten zu lassen. Für den Stadtrat von Manchester ist dies ein schwerer Schlag. Man hatte fest mit den geplanten Investitionen in Höhe von rund 260 Millionen Pfund und der Schaffung von mindestens 2.700 neuen Jobs in der strukturschwachen Region gerechnet.

London (Reuters) – The UK government finally axed controversial plans for Britain’s first Las Vegas-style supercasino on Tuesday as it gave the green light to build a new generation of 16 smaller casinos. The supercasino was set to be built in Manchester before the idea was effectively killed off by Gordon Brown last July, shortly after he became Prime Minister. Culture minister Andy Burnham finally confirmed the government was scrapping the idea in a statement to Parliament, ending almost a year of deliberation and confusion.

Manchester appeared to have won a five-day stay of execution last night before its planned supercasino is scrapped for good. Culture secretary Andy Burnham had been due to announce that the project – worth 3,000 jobs and GBP 265m – would not go ahead. There were no plans for the government to soften the blow by promising a replacement package of jobs.

Manchester officials have said they will consider a legal challenge if a government decision to axe the city’s planned super-casino is confirmed. The city council said it knew nothing of the U-turn by ministers, who are still planning 16 regional casinos. The BBC has learned that the decision is to be announced in a statement to the Commons after the half-term recess.

Gordon Brown was accused of “shameful irresponsibility” last night as he prepared to give the green light to a wave of huge regional casinos. Although the Prime Minister symbolically axed Britain’s first Las Vegas-style supercasino, it emerged that 16 gambling palaces would still get the go-ahead. Whitehall sources signalled that eight large and eight medium-sized casinos would go ahead. Large casinos…

Plans to build a “supercasino” are to be dropped by the British government, but 16 smaller casinos will be given the go-ahead, local The Daily Telegraph has learned this week. A review of the Gambling Act, which cleared the way for eight new ’small’ casinos, eight „large“ ones and a massive regional gambling centre in Manchester has concluded all except the supercasino should be granted licences.

Blackpool’s abandoned super-casino site and Winter Gardens are in the running to host the relocated Covent Garden Theatre Museum, after the V&A agreed to pursue proposals for a National Museum for the Performing Arts in the seaside town. The resort first announced its desire to become the museum’s new home a year ago – shortly before the London site shut – when parent organisation…

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.“