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Message was posted: 01:40 Oct 20th, 2006

User: Mr. Freeze Rank: Casino Gold: 3057CG Contributor rating: 6520 Status: Offline

Gambling news from http://www.blackpooltoday.co.uk/ BLACKPOOL'S super-casino bid received welcome backing from Westminster as MPs were told the resort was the best place for the multi-million pound project. The former shadow secretary for culture, media and sport Julie Kirkbride told Parliament she hoped the Casino Advisory Panel gave the licence to the Fylde resort. Ms Kirkbride made her comments after standing up on behalf of the Tories to oppose a move by Coventry Labour MP Jim Cunningham to raise the limit of regional casinos allowed in the Gambling Act from one to eight. She said: "We found out the Government had views on who they would like the licence to be awarded to when we heard about the Deputy Prime Minister's visit to a ranch in Colorado owned by Mr Philip Anschutz, who also happens to own the dome. "Mr Anschutz is determined to get a regional casino licence for the Dome, but were such a licence to be granted, the Government would face the huge embarrassment of having to tell everyone else in the country that the development that is attached to that licence—such as it is—had gone to the most prosperous part of the UK, rather than another area. "I hope the Casino Advisory Panel – and the Government, for that matter – will give the one licence available to Blackpool. "That would allow Blackpool to revive its tourism and enjoy the regeneration. The best case that has been put forward is for such a development to be in the Blackpool area." M Cunningham's bid to increase the number of super-casinos was scuppered by 240 votes to 55, majority 185, amid fierce Tory opposition. Earlier Mr Cunningham, whose Coventry constituency is challenging its omission from the final shortlist for the regional casino, argued that increasing the number of super-casinos would lead to more regeneration opportunities. He said: "I think the Government should increase the numbers of casinos. This decision is not based on the best interests of those areas in dire need. "The Government should allow more than one area to benefit from regeneration. The Government has hinted the legislation could be revisited and the permissible number of regional casino licences increased – given sufficient support from local authorities, MPs and the public." But Ms Kirkbride told him: "I think you have been used as something of a stalking horse by the Government to test opinion in the House as to whether or not there is an appetite to change what was set out by the Gaming Act 2005."