Tomorrow we should know if Blackpool is successful in their bid to host the country's first (and only) super casino.
Also bidding for the lucrative casino are:
- Greenwich, London
- Glasgow
- Manchester
- Newcastle
- Sheffield
With Blackpool and Greenwich both odds-on favourites for being chosen by the Casino Advisory Panel, an independent group, Centre for Cities, says that Blackpool would benefit more than the Greenwich Millennium Dome site, now called The o2.The board says that with the Olympics coming to east London in 2012, six thousand new jobs will be created, while the amount of visitors to Blackpool falls by 2% every year.
It's safe to say that Blackpool's survival very much relies upon their application for a super casino being successful. Already, Blackpool is known as the UK's answer to Las Vegas, but with many Brits choosing to holiday abroad, the Casino is regarded as a lifeline for the ailing resort.
Blackpool's core trade is British tourism, and with cheaper flights, even stag and hen nights are moving abroad to places such as Dublin and Amsterdam. You will already have seen conscious efforts by the Pleasure Beach to market itself as a more up-market resort, and the same applies to the casino, the plans for which show modern architecture injecting much-needed life into the area beyond the seafront.
It will be interesting to see whether the investment in Blackpool will turn around the alarming decline in visitors.
| Type
of casino |
Number
planned for UK |
Minimum
size of gaming area |
Amount
of jackpot machines |
Maximum
jackpot |
| Regional
super casino |
1 |
5,000sq
m |
1,250 |
Unlimited |
| Large
casino |
8 |
1,000sq
m |
150 |
GBP 4,000 |
| Small
casino |
8 |
750sq
m |
80 |
GBP 4,000 |
See also: Odds good for Blackpool casino
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Labels: Blog, PleasureBeachBlackpool
