The Manchester Super Casino That Never Was

When the Gambling Act of 2005 was made into law, it saw the revision of numerous regulations in England around the world of betting and gaming. One of the provisions in the Act was to allow some new ‘destination casinos to be built, which would be akin to those that existed in Las Vegas and would encourage gambling tourists to visit the United Kingdom.

Manchester was chosen as the site for one of these ‘super casinos’, with a site chosen to house it and everyone assuming that it would be built. In the end, however, no such ‘regional casino’ came to be in Manchester, with the entire scheme scrapped in 2008.

The Story Behind the Super Casinos

After the passing of the 2005 Gambling Act, it became clear that the rules around betting and gaming in the United Kingdom were going to be relaxed. One of the major ways in which the relaxation would be demonstrated was courtesy of some new casinos being built around the country, with the Act permitting the building of eight ‘small casinos’, the same number of ‘large casinos’ and one ‘regional casino’, also referred to as a ‘super casino’. With the largest casino in the country at that point being Star City in Birmingham, which had a floor area in the region of 950 square feet, the definition of the new casinos was as follows:

• Small Casino – Minimum Customer Area of 750 square feet
• Large Casino – Minimum Customer Area of 1,000 square feet
• Super Casino – Minimum Customer Area of 5,000 square feet

In addition to the size of the casinos, small casinos would have as many as 80 slot machines and a maximum jackpot of £4,000, whilst large casinos would have up to 150 slot machines and the same jackpot size. Super casinos, meanwhile, would be able to have as many as 1,250 slot machines with an unlimited jackpot size. By the May of 2006, eight possible sites for the super casino had been drawn up, including Wembley Stadium, the O2 in Greenwich, Blackpool and Sportcity in Manchester. Wembley was later withdrawn after an objection from the local council, making the O2 and Blackpool the favourites.

On the 30th of January, 2007, it was confirmed that Manchester had won the right to host the new super casino, with the site being close to the City of Manchester Stadium, whilst the Casino Advisory Panel said that large casinos should be build in Great Yarmouth, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Southampton, Kingston-upon-Hull, Middlesbrough, Solihull and Newham. Meanwhile, the smaller casinos would be built in Bath and North East Somerset, Luton, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Swansea, Wolverhampton, Torbay, Luton and Scarborough. The site of the super casino would also include a swimming pool, urban sports venue and other entertainment sites.

What Went Wrong

With everything in place for Manchester to host the United Kingdom’s first Las Vegas-style casino (in addition to all of the regular casinos in the area), with Members of Parliament backing the plans with a majority of 24, the decision had to go to the House of Lords for peers to give their approval. When the Gambling Order went up for a vote in the Lords, however, 123 of them voted to reject it compared to the 120 that had been in favour of it. The feeling of some was that it could increase problem gambling in what was a deprived part of the city of Manchester. The defeat in the Lords meant that the super casino plans had to be re-drawn by the Labour government of the time.

By putting the vote on the casinos altogether, it also meant that the plans for the smaller casinos and the larger casinos were also needing to be shelved. Some were of the opinion that the plan would’ve made it through the Lords if the bookmaker’s favourites, Blackpool, had won the right to have the super casino. The then-Mayor of Blackpool, Allan Matthews, said of the decision to award it to Manchester, “Does Manchester want our sea, and our tower? It might as well have it all. It’s like nailing the coffin lid down on Blackpool. The decision to put it in Manchester is the worst of all scenarios.”

The major issue for the super casino plan came in the form of a change of Prime Minister. Tony Blair had been fully supportive of the plan, but when he was ousted as the leader of the Labour Party in favour of Gordon Brown, that all changed. The new Prime Minster decided that he would launch a review into the decision, with Communities Secretary Hazel Blears, who was also the MP for Salford, looking to see whether there might be better ways for East Manchester to be regenerated than the building of a huge casino. Andy Burnham, who was the Culture Secretary at the time, said that there was ‘no consensus‘ over the building of a new massive casino.

The super casino plan was soon scrapped, with 16 other casinos instead being granted licenses. There was a suggestion that Manchester might take the government to court over the decision to no longer allow a super casino to be built in the area, but in the end that didn’t materialise. Gordon Brown told the House, “We can look at whether regeneration to tackle social ills is a better way forward than supercasinos.” At the time of writing, the largest casino in the country is the Aspers Casino in Westfield, Stratford, yet that is nothing like a Las Vegas-style casino, lacking the resort that would accompany it. Now it seems that the country will never go down that route.