Anchutz favourite for super-casino contract

2006-12-06 16:18:06

US businessman Phil Anschutz is winning the race to secure the UK's only super-casino licence, it has been revealed.

Citing unnamed British press reports, the Denver Business Journal says that Mr Anschutz, a Denver-born billionaire, "apparently remains the front-runner".

Mr Anschutz's $1.1 billion (£575 million) project, named 02, has already aroused controversy following summer revelations that deputy prime minister John Prescott had visited the businessman several times over the past few months.

The allegations resulted in both parties being accused of conflicts of interest, but neither Tony Blair nor the police saw it necessary to take the matter further.

The 02 project, which will see a super-casino being developed in and around the site of the Millennium Dome, won an initial vote this summer, with an advisory panel putting it just ahead of venues in Blackpool and Glasgow.

Furthermore, a recent report by the same panel suggested that a London venue would be preferable from both social and economic perspectives.

A setback in scheduling has meant that the licence will now be awarded in January next year, rather than later this month as was originally planned.


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