Saturday, December 09, 2006

Casino bosses have met Luton's faith leaders as they seek to pave the way to
a large, new gambling den at the former Vauxhall site. Grosvenor Casinos'
chief Paul Armitage held talks with the town's Council of Faiths and
Churches Together as a way of smoothing community relations for its bid to
run one of the nation's new wave of casinos. The meeting, held at the
Salvation Army Hall, Vicarage Street, was just the latest step in the
industry's efforts to make Luton a centre for gambling in the region. But
Luton's faith leaders maintained their opposition to the proposal. Luton
Churches Together's Mike Thomas said: "We are in no doubt there would be
increased debt within a community which has a very big problem already."
Luton Borough Council has applied to be one of the local authorities able to
licence either one of the large or small casinos introduced under the
Gambling Act 2005 and a number of companies are eyeing the possibility of
moving into the renovated space near the airport.