Casino News

Pulled supercasino 'will cost £1 billion'

2007-10-25 12:00:26

Manchester city council has said that the government's halting of the proposed supercasino will cost the city £1 billion.

Leader of Manchester's council Sir Richard Leese is quoted by the Manchester Evening News as saying: "Overall, the lost opportunity to build a mixed-use scheme anchored by a regional casino would cost Manchester £1 billion over a ten-year period."

Mr Leese added that alternatives for regenerating the area could not generate anywhere near as many jobs as the supercasino, with 500 positions being the projection for alternative schemes and over 3,000 the projection for the supercasino.

The casino was to be built at Sportcity but prime minister Gordon Brown nixed the idea earlier this year.

Manchester initially won the bid to build the casino in January, beating off London and Blackpool.