Swansea Council bosses are again preparing the ground to bring to the city a new casino with slot machines offering more and bigger jackpots.Swansea had been recommended for one of eight so-called small casino licences by the independent Casino Advisory Panel in January. That decision was backed by the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and MPs, only for the House of Lords to scupper the plan.

The British Casino Association (BCA) is due to learn whether it has succeeded in its High Court challenge over the legality of the Government’s new gaming policy. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell was accused during a recent hearing of treating existing gaming establishments with „blatant unfairness“ as she pushes ahead with plans for 17 new casinos, including the first Las Vegas-style „super-casino“.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell was accused in the High Court of treating existing gaming establishments with „blatant unfairness“ as she pushed ahead with plans for 17 new casinos, including in Solihull and Wolverhampton. Lost profits could be as much as GBP 120 million a year and old, established operators forced out of business, a judge was told.

Tessa Jowell faces fresh embarrassment from her controversial Gambling Act as the UK‘s poker clubs join forces to challenge the new legislation. They are considering taking legal action over the gaming law and, to boost their case, they will this week form a trade association. They have already hired top legal advice and Citigate as lobbyist. The UK Poker Clubs Association represents 72,000 members.

Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, is seeking to stave off an embarrassing defeat on her plans to build a supercasino in Manchester by suggesting a joint committee of both houses consider the case for building more casinos, including large ones, sooner than originally envisaged. The government faces possible defeat in both the Lords and Commons today over the supercasino site recommended by an independent advisory panel. The vote also covers less controversial plans for 16 smaller casinos around the country.

Labour MPs will be under a three-line whip to support the Government’s all-or-nothing strategy for a super-casino in Manchester and 16 smaller casinos around the country, Tessa Jowell said yesterday. The Culture Secretary confirmed a report in The Daily Telegraph that MPs would vote by March 29 on a single Government Order implementing the recommendation of the Casino Advisory Panel. It will mean that MPs opposed to the siting of the first Las Vegas-style casino in Manchester risk throwing out the other 16 proposed casinos if they vote down the order.

Pressure was today intensifying on Tessa Jowell to reverse Blackpool’s supercasino snub. So far the Culture Secretary has stood firm in her belief the Casino Advisory Panel was right to recommend Manchester as the location for the UK‘s first Las Vegas-style gambling mecca. But there’s a growing rebellion by MPs and Lords.