Number of UK casinos set to double
21st February, 2008
The number of land-based casinos in the UK could increase twofold in the near future, the Daily Mail has claimed.
Culture minister Richard Caborn had previously set a cap of some 150 casino gambling institutions across the country when he introduced new gambling legislation in January 2005.
But that commitment angered slot machine operators and the government may now be forced to backtrack on its pledge, with gaming firms submitting applications for 125 new small casinos on top of the 144 already in existence.
Whitehall is said to be seeking a compromise between the proposed supercasino plans of former prime minister Tony Blair and the concerns of anti-gambling activists - a feat that Liberal Democrat culture spokesman Don Foster said they are failing to pull off.
"This is not a question about the rights or wrongs of gambling," he asserted. "It is about the government's complete failure to accurately predict the number of casinos we would end up with following its gambling reforms."
Plans for a supercasino in Manchester were scrapped this month on the same day that 16 smaller regional casinos were approved.
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