The starting gun for contenders to lodge their applications for the licence to build Yarmouth's large casino is likely to be fired by the borough council in the autumn. In the final analysis, applications will be decided by the criterion of “which one offers the greatest benefit to the borough” with the winner likely to be known by the winter of 2010. The provisional timetable was announced yesterday to casino developers and operators at a casino open day at the resort's tourism headquarters in Maritime House.

An open day in Yarmouth next week for prospective developers and operators of the resort's large casino is being seen as an important gauge of commercial appetite for the scheme in the current economic climate. When it was announced two years ago that the resort had clinched one of eight large casino licences - the only venue on the East Coast to be chosen - there was initial euphoria over the expectation of thousands of extra visitors and more than 1,000 new jobs.

The race to bring Monte Carlo-style gambling to Yarmouth is set to hot up early in the New Year when the borough council picks up negotiations with four consortia interested in building a large casino and leisure complex at the centre of the resort's Golden Mile. After the town was awarded one of eight large casino licences earlier this year, Pleasure Beach boss Albert Jones was the first to publicly pursue his interest by submitting plans for a striking GBP 35m casino complex...

The first contender to enter the ring in the battle for Yarmouth's large casino licence looks poised to win planning approval later this week for an architecturally striking scheme called The Edge, next to the outer harbour site. A decision on the GBP 35m casino and leisure complex being proposed by Pleasure Beach boss Albert Jones was deferred at last month's meeting of the borough council's development control committee...

The race to build the only large casino on the East coast will be stepped up later this week when Yarmouth councillors consider plans for a GBP 35m casino and leisure complex next to the resort's Pleasure Beach. The borough council's development control committee is being recommended to support the scheme - predicted to create about 1,000 jobs - in a report prepared by independent planning consultant Richard Wingate, especially commissioned to avoid any accusations of bias.

A Norfolk casino worker who stuffed thousands of pounds into his socks before escaping to Thailand has been jailed for a year. Peter Smith stole GBP 8,500 in one night while working at the Palace Casino in Yarmouth in May. The 37-year-old cash desk worker has spent much of his life working in casinos all over the world - but was yesterday told his career was over after he admitted theft.

A landmark building to tower over the seafront, a theme park and even turning the historic town hall into a gambling house are among developers' ideas for creating a new casino in Yarmouth, the EDP has learned. While two developers have already shown their hands - proposing GBP 35m leisure complexes that would combine a casino with such facilities as multiplex cinemas, bowling alleys...

The race to turn Yarmouth into a Monte Carlo-style gambling capital will be stepped up later this week with the opening of a multi-million- pound casino predicted to attract up to 75,000 visitors a year. When Palace Casino opens on Thursday next to the existing Palace Bingo, it will take the investment of Gorleston-based entrepreneur Patrick Duffy in the town's old Tesco site to more than GBP 9m in five years and create a further 70 jobs on top of the 35 already at the Church Plain complex.

Yarmouth's Pleasure Beach boss Albert Jones is to lay down what he hopes will be a winning hand in the battle to bring gaming on a Las Vegas scale to the resort. Residents will be given their first real glimpse of his bold plans for a GBP 35m casino and leisure complex, creating about 1,000 jobs, at a public exhibition in the town next week. The centre, to be called The Edge, would revitalise a strip of wasteland on South Denes between the Pleasure Beach and the outer harbour site.